Alves

WEST WARWICK — Fifteen ballots cast in the Democratic primary election for state Senate should not have been counted because the voters were either registered Republicans or voting in the wrong precinct, according to the deputy town clerk.

Most of the 10 Republicans said last night that the town canvassers are wrong about their voting affiliations. They may have voted in the past as registered Republicans but, they said, they disaffiliated from the party afterward.

“If they had me as a Republican, I shouldn’t have been able to vote,” Carole A. King, one of the ten, said. “Someone messed up somewhere. I know they’re doing the best job they can think of.”

Longtime incumbent Sen. Stephen D. Alves, the powerful Finance Committee chairman, lost the primary election to political newcomer and baker Michael J. Pinga. Alves has cited the questionable ballots as a reason for the state Supreme Court to call for a new election. Two recounts –– one ordered by the high court –– have affirmed Pinga’s narrow 17-point victory.

The court is expected to decide tomorrow whether to hear Alves’ appeal.

Last month, Deputy Town Clerk Kathleen DuPonte told the state Board of Elections that 13 registered Republicans had voted in the Democratic primary. After examining the ballot applications signed by voters, Alves’ lawyer, Angel Taveras, found two more, upping the total number of Republicans to 15.

However, DuPonte said this week that she had double checked the political affiliations of the challenged voters in a computer database and also on paper records in the clerk’s office. She discovered that some of the questionable voters were actually Democrats who cast ballots in the wrong precinct.

In situations where an individual’s eligibility is in doubt, a voter should be given a provisional ballot, according to Robert Kando, executive director of the Board of Elections. If their eligibility is confirmed, their votes can be counted.

The change in the number of Republicans does not change Alves’ argument, Taveras said last night. In addition to the 15 questionable ballots cited by the Town Clerk, he says three ballots were cast that had no signed ballot application. By his count, the number of questionable ballots is still 18.

“This is no different,” Taveras said. “They should have all been provisional and not been counted pursuant to existing law.”

The Town Clerk has released the names of the 10 voters who are registered Republicans, according to the canvassers’ records.

In addition to King, Susan L. Harris, Angela Gonsalves, and Anne Helmstetter all said last night that they had disaffiliated after voting in Republican primaries two years ago. Of those who disclosed their votes, three said they voted for Alves.

One voter, Kathy A. Dascoli, declined comment. Three of the voters — Sonia M. Pimentel of Ledge Drive, Deanna K. Scott of Phenix Avenue, and Kenneth Gonsalves of Wakefield — could not be reached, while another, Paula M. Gardosik, of Audrey Avenue, was unavailable last night.

The lone voter who said he was a Republican, Phillip A. Ray of Aberdeen Street, said he was under the impression that his vote wasn’t counted.

“They didn’t count my vote,” Ray said. “That’s what I was told.”

Ray said he went to the polls, not realizing that he should have disaffiliated first. Poll workers found his name on a master list of all voters, but not on the list of Democratic voters — but they let him vote, he said. They then approached him after he’d cast his ballot, he said, explained the situation, and said they’d have to throw his vote out.

“I really didn’t know,” he said. “I don’t know much about politics. … I put it in the machine, but they said they took it out after.”

Helmstetter keeps her disaffiliation forms after every primary, just in case she has to produce them in order to vote like she did last month.

“I was distressed when they challenged me and handed me a Republican ticket,” she said. “I came home and I had the paper. I take voting very seriously and I would raise the roof on that place if they’d continued to challenge me. This has nothing to do with Alves.”

The state police have been asked to investigate the legality of the votes by William Lynch, chairman of the state Democratic Party. Lt. Col. Steven O’Donnell said yesterday they are looking into the situation, but have not launched a full investigation.

“It’s under our review,” he said. “If it leads to something that points [us to] a criminal investigation, so be it. But right now, we’re not there yet.”

tbuford@projo.com