CRANSTON — City officials say they have discovered the forged signature of a man who died nearly a year ago on the nomination papers of Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson.

The three-member Board of Canvassers voted unanimously yesterday afternoon to turn the matter over to the state police for investigation.

Forging a signature on nomination papers is a felony in Rhode Island.

And signature collectors, who sign affidavits swearing they were in the presence of those who signed the forms, can face felony charges if they violate the oath.

Both crimes are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Darrel Ng, a spokesman for Thompson, said yesterday afternoon that the campaign does not employ the signature collector, Barbara Riccio of Cranston, who filed the nomination papers with the name of the deceased.

And Ng said he did not expect the signature flap to affect Thompson’s prospects in Rhode Island’s March 4 Republican presidential primary.

“Obviously, every campaign has overzealous volunteers,” he said, adding later, “We’re confident voters don’t pay attention to things like this. We’re confident they pay attention to things like Senator Thompson’s conservative record.”

Chris Barnett, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, said he knew of no other voter fraud problems associated with this year’s primaries.

He said any problem with the signature on the Thompson form will not affect the candidate’s prospects for landing on the Rhode Island ballot.

And Thompson, an actor and former U.S. senator, seems well on his way to appearing on that ballot.

Presidential candidates had to collect at least 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify.

Cities and towns have until Thursday to validate the signatures and the secretary of state’s office must certify them.

As of yesterday afternoon, cities and towns were reporting 1,566 valid signatures for Thompson, and the secretary of state’s office had already certified 939.

Of course, whether Thompson will still be in the race when the Rhode Island primary takes place is another question.

The former Law & Order star has registered little support in national polls and was not expected to fare well in yesterday’s New Hampshire primary.

Still, the case of the dead voter is bound to add to the lore of a state notorious for its sometimes crooked politics.

Indeed, this is not the first time in recent memory that the deceased have shown up on nomination papers.

In July 2006, the state police arrested a campaign worker for failed gubernatorial candidate Dennis Michaud after the Scituate Board of Canvassers found suspicious signatures and two attributed to dead men on nomination papers.

Robert Cooper, of Coventry, was charged with signing an affidavit testifying that the signatures were obtained “in my presence.”

Court records show he failed to appear for his last court date in March and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

In the Thompson case, the dead man who showed up on the nomination papers was John McEvoy, late owner of the Shear Pleasure Day Spa in Cranston, who died in February at age 54.

McEvoy’s 14-year-old son, of the same name, said in a telephone interview yesterday that no one had approached his family about signing nomination papers.

And the McEvoy signature may not be the only problem on Riccio’s nominating paper — seemingly the only paper she filed for any candidate in the race.

Joseph A. DeLorenzo Jr., chairman of the Board of Canvassers, said the paper is riddled with questionable signatures.

“There are a lot of these signatures that look like they were in the same handwriting and a lot of them are invalid,” he said.

The board ruled out 23 of the 32 names that appeared on Riccio’s nomination paper.

Officials found 16 of the signers — including Riccio herself — were not registered voters, five had signatures that did not match those in voting records, one had already signed another nominating paper and one, McEvoy, was dead.

Riccio did not return a call for comment and no one answered a knock on her door yesterday afternoon.

But Brandon Rini, who described himself as a friend of Riccio’s children, said his signature, flagged as suspicious by elections officials, was legitimate.

Still, his signature, however authentic, does not count because he is not a registered voter.

dscharfe@projo.com