AG's office investigates illegal political advertising ahead of town meetings
Mar. 7—With New Hampshire's annual town meetings looming, the Attorney General's Office is looking into political mailings, signs and websites in five communities that violate the state's law regarding political advertising.
The Attorney General's Office has received five complaints this week, according to a news release. In each case, the incidents involve campaign information that does not identify the parties responsible for the political advertising.
The violations prompted the AG's office to remind voters "to do their own research on candidates and warrant articles before they vote."
In Thornton, flyers and signs directing voters to a website urged town residents to vote "no" on certain warrant articles at the March 9 school district meeting, without identifying who was behind that advertising. And that's a violation of RSA 664:14,, which requires that all political advertising be signed with the name and address of the person responsible for the advertising, the AG's office said.
In Milford, an entity calling itself Community Help LLC published a website with a "voter guide" in Milford, containing endorsements of candidates and warrant articles on the March 14 town ballot. According to the AG's office, the entity is not registered with the Secretary of State and no individual was identified on the website.
An unidentified party in Raymond published a website containing endorsement of candidates and warrant articles. Something similar happened in Newfields.
And in Hollis an unidentified party sent out mailers asking voters to vote down a warrant article. The mailers were issued under a U.S. postal permit from Tampa, Florida, officials said.
In Thornton and Milford, the election law unit of the AG's office identified the individuals involved and directed them to comply with state law. Unit investigators are still looking into the Raymond, Newfields and Hollis violations, the news release said.
