Man under investigation for bringing gun and camera to Manchester polls

Nov. 5—MANCHESTER — A man whose behavior at the Ward 3 polling place Tuesday prompted calls to state election officials was carrying a holstered firearm and filming the election, according to a state election law official.

The man reportedly refused to follow the directions of moderator Amy McCall about where he could stand, said Myles Matteson, head of the New Hampshire Attorney General's Election Law Unit.

Matteson said the man was filming with a mobile phone, but he would not provide the man's name.

"We're still in the information-gathering stage," he said.

McCall contacted the Election Law Unit on Election Day, and its chief investigator, who already was in Manchester, responded.

Investigator Richard Tracy, a former Manchester police officer, spoke to the man, who eventually left Ward 3.

He apparently visited several other Manchester voting locations.

"From a New Hampshire perspective, there is no New Hampshire prohibition of bringing firearms into polling places, no matter where they are located," Matteson said.

In the past, federal officials have said the federal law is more complicated when it comes to polling locations at schools. The federal Gun Free Schools Law prohibits bringing a firearm on school property in most cases, and federal officials have discouraged people from doing so.

Ward 3 is located at the city Health Department.