CONCORD, New Hampshire — The Attorney General’s Office is investigating complaints of robocalls with a recorded message using a voice sounding like President Joe Biden encouraging voters not to vote in Tuesday’s presidential primary election in New Hampshire.
The message, which was sent on Jan. 21, stated, “Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
Although the voice in the robocall sounds like the voice of President Biden, this message appears to be artificially generated based on initial indications, Attorney General John Formella said in a statement Monday.
“It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” the message said. “Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
The message appears to have been “spoofed” to falsely show that it had been sent by Kathy Sullivan, the treasurer of a political committee supporting the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary write-in efforts for President Biden, Formella said.
Sullivan told Boston 25 News she started getting random calls from strangers statewide over the weekend.
“I called one woman and she said ‘oh I got a phone call from Joe Biden’ and I said ma’am I didn’t call you and she said well ma’am they’re scamming you,” said Sullivan.
“These messages appear to be an unlawful attempt to disrupt the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election and to suppress New Hampshire voters. New Hampshire voters should disregard the content of this message entirely,” Formella’s statement said. “Voting in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election does not preclude a voter from additionally voting in the November General Election.”
The Biden-Harris administration said the campaign is “actively discussing additional actions to take immediately.”
“Spreading disinformation to suppress voting and deliberately undermine free and fair elections will not stand, and fighting back against any attempt to undermine our democracy will continue to be a top priority for this campaign,” said Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
Mike Driscoll, a cybersecurity expert, says these robocalls are only getting better but there are ways to tell it’s fake.
“Breaks in how they speak and certain pauses that don’t seem natural,” said Driscoll. “The best protection for all of it is for people to be cautious about what they share and be very skeptical about calls like this.”
Driscoll told Boston 25 that he believes Sullivan was targetted ahead of a crucial primary election with nationwide consequences.
“They’re not patriots they’re not pro-America or pro-democracy they are trying to shut down a vote,” Sullivan said.
Recipients of this message are also encouraged to send an e-mail to the Department of Justice Election Law Unit (electionlaw@doj.nh.gov) identifying the date and time they received the call or message, the origin of the call or message, the content of the call or message, and any other relevant information.
The Election Law Unit’s investigation is ongoing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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