MANCHESTER, NH – The NH Attorney General’s office election law division on Wednesday confirmed they are looking into a complaint that a man who was open-carrying a firearm refused to comply with instructions from the Ward 3 moderator during Tuesday’s election.
Myles Matteson, Deputy General Counsel and head of the election law division, said his department is in the information-gathering phase of an investigation prompted when complaints were lodged by election officials from Ward 3.
A man, whose name has not been released by authorities, was causing a disruption at the polls, Matteson said.
“He wasn’t following instructions of the moderator,” Matteson said.
Chief Investigator for the AG’s election division, Richard Tracy, was on duty in the area and was dispatched to the Carol Rines Center in Ward 3 where he spent “a period of time” speaking with election officials as well as the individual causing the disturbance. He was following up with election officials Wednesday, Matteson said.
Matteson did not elaborate on the reported behavior except to say that the man, identified as a tall man with red hair and a beard, wasn’t following instructions on where he was allowed to be inside the polling place.
An investigation of this nature involves evaluation of the state’s statutes on election law that define how election officials and members of the public conduct themselves during an active election process. Matteson cited Title 18, chapters 659 (election procedure) and 666 (provisions for purity of elections) as the relevant statutes that, in this case, might be applicable.
Although Matteson said the only formal complaint filed was in Ward 3, there were similar anecdotal reports from wards 1, 5 7 and 11 which may have involved the same individual or others. The complaints included unwanted videotaping of volunteers outside the polling places, to intimidating remarks made inside and outside the polling places in the context of the open-carry firearms.
Matteson said there was no set timeline for conducting the investigation, as each complaint is handled individually.
Anyone with information pertaining to this incident can contact the NH Attorney General’s Office division of election law at electionlaw@doj.nh.gov.