PORTSMOUTH — Campaign materials designed to promote Democratic candidates caused a stir at a Portsmouth polling location on Tuesday, after some voters reported being confused by what appeared to be altered ballots. The reports led the Rhode Island GOP to file an official complaint with the Rhode Island Board of Elections on Tuesday afternoon.

Leonard Katzman, chairman of the Portsmouth Democratic Town Committee, dismissed the contention that these were altered ballots, calling the handouts “a standard piece of campaign literature.”

Democratic State Rep. Michelle McGaw and others were handing them to voters outside of the Common Fence Point Arts, Wellness and Community Hall on Tuesday. Designed to look similar to actual ballots, the campaign handouts highlighted the names of Democratic candidates while obscuring the names of other candidates.

After Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Patricia Morgan learned of the handouts, she posted about it on social media, and the GOP officially submitted its complaint.

Portsmouth Registrar of Voters Jacqueline Schulz then went to the Common Fence site and asked that they stop handing out the materials, which they did.

In a written statement later in the day, Katzman released the following: “This afternoon, Portsmouth Democratic candidates were handing out a standard piece of campaign literature, voter guides with our candidates marked. It was half the size of a standard sheet of paper or roughly 1/4 the size of a ballot. These voter guides are regularly used by all sides; in fact, a local Portsmouth Republican candidate distributed a similar piece. There is no way that these could be mistaken for actual ballots. See the photo (above) of the piece with a standard size piece of paper.

“Nonetheless, a Republican candidate running for Senate deceitfully said that this exercise of campaign free speech was ‘voter fraud.’ Shame on her for sowing distrust in the minds of the voters.

“Portsmouth Democrats support the political free speech of all. I personally checked with Portsmouth’s Canvassing Office and learned that they are unaware that this campaign literature breaks any laws. Nonetheless, simply out of courtesy, we asked our candidates to stop handing these out shortly after becoming aware of social media posts about them.”