Advertisement Town clerk calls NHGOP mailer misleading, intimidating Attorney general’s office sees no legal violation in party chair’s ‘vote by mail’ plea Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Getting voters to the polls for a mid-summer special election is no easy task for candidates and political parties.With a special state Senate election scheduled for July 25, Republicans and Democrats are reminding voters in District 16 that absentee voting is an option, but one town clerk is saying the state Republican Party has gone too far.Candia Town Clerk Chris Dupere said Friday a mailer by the Republican State Committee on behalf of candidate and former state Sen. David Boutin of Hooksett invokes her office in a misleading way and has an “intimidation factor” to it. Boutin is facing Democratic Manchester Ward 1 Alderman Kevin Cavanaugh and Libertarian Jason Dubrow of Dunbarton.“The town clerk’s office reports to me that you have not yet returned your application for an absentee ballot for the July 25th special election,” writes NHGOP Chair Jeanie Forrester in a letter entitled “Urgent Election Message.”“Time is growing very short and I’m concerned your voice won’t be heard.”Below Forrester’s signature, the letter says in large print, “Voting by Mail – It’s Fast and Easy.”Included with the letter is an application for an absentee ballot that already contains the voter’s name and address. “Complete the application,” the letter says, “Check one box in Section II and sign. Fold, seal and stamp. Drop in the mail, it’s pre-addressed. Soon you’ll get your official ballot in the mail!’“It’s using the town clerk to make it sound official,” Dupere said. “I feel it’s an intimidation factor for the voters, and the voters who reached out to me felt it was, too.” She also noted, “We don’t have voting by mail in New Hampshire,” and she called the reference to voting by mail misleading and "erroneous."Candidates are able to obtain a list of voters who requested absentee ballots by presenting notarized requests to town clerks, Dupere noted.But she was concerned enough about the wording of NHGOP mailer to ask the secretary of state’s office and the attorney general’s office to review it.Assistant Attorney General Brian Buonomano told WMUR that while he did not like the use of the phrase “voting by mail,” he saw nothing illegal in the piece.“There is an absentee ballot request form included,” he said. “It is the official application for an absentee ballot,” he said. “And as for the reference to the town clerk’s office, I understand (Dupere’s) concern, but from an election law perspective, I don’t see an issue.”As for the reference to “voting by mail,” Buonomano said, “I would not describe our absentee process as voting by mail, and so it’s a term that I do not prefer. But they do include the official application form for an absentee ballot, which clearly sets out the requirements for voting absentee.”As Dupere noted, there is no general “voting by mail” provision in New Hampshire law. The statute governing absentee voting says that in order to vote absentee, a voter must be absent from his or her community on Election Day or must be unable to get to the polls due to an employment or religious commitment or physical disability.State Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley called the NHGOP mailer “a deceptive, nasty trick.”“We've been extremely careful to follow the letter of the law while Jeanie Forrester and the Republicans are playing fast and loose with the rules,” Buckley said. “They can't keep crying foul on election integrity while encouraging voters to skirt the law.”Forrester said the mailer is an attempt to “get people engaged, to realize there is an important election coming up and to get them out to vote.”“I have the highest respect for town clerks, having been a town administrator in Tuftonboro and New Durham,” Forrester said. “I respect what (Dupere) is saying, but I don’t agree with it.”As for the NHDP, Forrester said, “I wouldn’t expect them to care for it, but there is nothing illegal about it.”“Of course you need to follow the law” governing absentee voting, Forrester said. “We’re just trying to get people engaged and realize there is an election coming up.”The Democratic Party pointed out that the only mailer it has sent out so far with absentee information contains three caveats that a voter must be unable to get to the polls and must be “eligible” to vote absentee.Boutin has sent his own mailer to the voters with references to voting by mail, but it prominently states, “Please vote today by mail with an absentee ballot or on July 25th.”The special election will be held in the towns of Candia, Bow, Hooksett and Dunbarton and in Wards 1, 2 and 12 in Manchester. Political observers and pundits are focused on the race as a possible pre-cursor to next year’s mid-term election. It has even drawn some out-of-state attention. Former and potential future presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, for instance, will campaign for Cavanaugh.