The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into an “unlawful attempt” at voter suppression after NBC News reported that a robocall impersonating President Joe Biden was going out to voters, telling them not to vote in Tuesday’s presidential primary.
“What a bunch of malarkey,” the robocall phone message begins, something Biden has been heard saying before.
“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 call says.
In a statement, the attorney general’s office said, “Although the voice in the robocall sounds like the voice of President Biden, this message appears to be artificially generated based on initial indications.
“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.”
The investigation was opened after a complaint was filed by Kathy Sullivan, a former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair whose personal cellphone number showed up on the caller ID screens of those receiving the call, NBC reported.
Sullivan said that she began getting calls from people who received the robocall asking why it was her number on caller identification.
“I said, ‘You got a call from Joe Biden, and he gave you my number?’” Sullivan said she responded.
Biden’s name does not appear on Tuesday’s New Hampshire Democratic ballot after the Democratic National Committee moved South Carolina’s primary to the head of the line, making it the first sanctioned contest of the 2024 nominating race under new Democratic National Committee rules, The Associated Press reported.
New Hampshire, by state law, has been the first state in the union to hold a primary. State Democrats decided to go ahead with the primary election. South Carolina’s primary is set for Feb. 3.
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