Supporters of President Joe Biden are denouncing an apparently unauthorized robocall that discouraged Democrats from voting during the New Hampshire primary.
The leaders of a campaign to write-in Joe Biden denounced the call, which the state's attorney general’s office is now investigating as attempted voter suppression.
“This is deep fake disinformation designed to harm Joe Biden, suppress votes, and damage our democracy,” said Write-In Biden spokesman Aaron Jacobs, per Axios.
The incumbent president will not appear on the ballot in compliance with a new primary schedule set by the Democratic National Committee that recognizes South Carolina as the first state in the nation to hold a primary. The South Carolina primary will be held on Feb. 3.
In the robocall, an altered voice designed to sound like Biden told voters not to take part in the upcoming primary. The call appeared to come from the personal cellphone number of a “prominent New Hampshire Democrat” who filed a complaint according to NBC News. The script included the line “what a bunch of malarkey” and the phone number for the former chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, Kathy Sullivan, who is backing the write-in campaign.
“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 New Hampshire Department of Justice announced on Jan. 22 that it “has received complaints” about the calls and believes the faux-Biden voice was “artificially generated based on initial indications.” Recipients of the message have been asked to email the Department of Justice’s Election Law Unit.
“These messages appear to be an unlawful attempt to disrupt the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election and to suppress New Hampshire voters,” the department said in a press release. “New Hampshire voters should disregard the content of this message entirely. Voting in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election does not preclude a voter from additionally voting in the November General Election.”
New Hampshire’s Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell sent a cease-and-desist letter to the DNC’s Rules & Bylaws Committee on Jan. 8 following a separate alleged act of unlawful voter suppression.
The DNC’s Committee said the New Hampshire Democratic Party had not been authorized by the national party to hold a primary on Jan. 23 and to do so could “disenfranchise and confuse voters.”
“The NHDP must take steps to educate the public that January 23rd is a non-binding presidential preference event and is meaningless and the NHDP and presidential candidates should take all steps possible not to participate,” the letter states.
O’Donnell warned the DNC that “falsely telling New Hampshire voters that a New Hampshire Election is ‘meaningless’ violates New Hampshire voter suppression laws.”
