EAST PROVIDENCE — Canvassing Authority member Thomas Riley always keeps a watchful and opinionated eye on election matters.

The often controversial figure has asked for poll workers to be removed, criticized people for their lack of election law knowledge and, as former Mayor Joseph Larisa Jr. sees it, has “championed the fight against voter fraud in East Providence.”

His concerns this month have to do with a campaign sign on Pawtucket Avenue, a polling site for the upcoming general election and MaryAnn Callahan, the head clerk in the city’s canvassing office.

He discussed two of the three briefly — without any heated debates or shouting, which has often occurred this year — at last night’s 19-minute authority meeting at City Hall. Forgetting to mention it before adjournment, the lone Republican on the three-member board brought it up as everyone packed to leave.

The campaign sign is not the typical lawn sign. It is a massive sign resembling a Rhode Island license plate. Instead of a plate number, it says “SMITH,” and asks residents to vote for Richard Smith in November. The Brookfield Road resident is running for the Ward 3 seat on the City Council against incumbent Valerie Perry.

Riley, and other Republicans, couldn’t care less about the size or who it endorses. Their problem is the location. It is erected on a lawn in front of the Knights of Columbus Hall on Pawtucket Avenue, which is a polling site for the city.

Campaign paraphernalia, pamphlets and even people wearing T-shirts supporting a candidate are not allowed in polling places on Election Day, and have to be a certain distance from the site.

Riley said the regulations should be applied at all times, not just on Election Day.

“I think it’s very improper,” Riley said yesterday during a telephone conversation.

Although he couldn’t state it as fact yesterday, Riley said political signs may also be in violation of the charter for the Knights of Columbus organization. City Republican Committee member Kathy Santos agreed.

“This is the first time I heard of any concern,” Smith said when contacted by The Journal yesterday afternoon. “We rented the place for a fundraiser and put it up then [Sept. 18]. If Mr. Riley has a concern, I would gladly discuss it with him.”

He said if the authority or other election officials said he had to take it down, he would. Yet Robert Rapoza, the state’s director of elections, said it only has to removed on Election Day.

“They can do that [have the sign up prior to voting day] if they have permission from the Knights.”

Said Riley, “I just don’t think it’s right at all.”

He has a similar complaint about a polling site being used by the city. The Teamsters Local 251 hall on Brightridge Avenue was taken off the list of city polling places after it was discovered the hall’s members had political signs and paraphernalia on the premises during a 2004 election.

It was reinstated this year for the presidential primary.

On Sept. 15, the board voted 2 to 1 not to use the hall for the general election. The authority instead wanted to use a second room at Martin Middle School. Riley said another location on Brightridge Avenue — the Holy Ghost Hall, also known as the Brightridge Club — was also a possibility.

Yet Rapoza rejected the change because the two alternatives were geographically outside of the voting district that needed the polling site. He said the board would agree to another spot for future elections if it met the state’s minimum requirements for a polling place and was within the district’s defined borders.

Riley said if Callahan hadn’t misinformed the state board regarding the Brightridge Club, which he says delayed the state’s inspection and decision about its suitability, the local authority could have found another alternative. She allegedly told election officials the place was used as a “Republican headquarters” when it wasn’t, Riley said.

“Thank you MaryAnn,” he said yesterday. “I’m not getting paid $1,000 a week to [mess] things up like she does. I’m doing this [volunteering to be on the authority] for the magnanimous sum of $13 a week.”

apina@projo.com