Fake Biden robocalls telling people not to vote in New Hampshire preliminaries

A fake robocall falsely claiming to be from US President Joe Biden has been circulating in New Hampshire, urging voters to skip the primary election. The calls are suspected to have been artificially generated, and an investigation has been opened to determine their source. The Trump campaign has denied involvement in creating the audio.

The robocall informs voters to ‘save’ their ballot for the general election in November and suggests that Republicans have been manipulating nonpartisan and Democratic voters to participate in their primary. However, there is no rule prohibiting people from voting in both the primary and general elections, rendering the message baseless.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office has stated that the voice in the robocall sounds like President Biden’s, but initial indications suggest the message was artificially generated. They have advised voters to disregard the content of the call. The robocalls appeared to be coming from the personal mobile phone number of Kathy Sullivan, a former state Democratic chairwoman involved in a pro-Biden political group in New Hampshire.

Anti-robocall application Nomorobo estimated that the calls were made between 5,000 and 25,000 times. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the audio in the robocalls is fake. Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez condemned the call as an attempt to ‘suppress voting and deliberately undermine free and fair elections.’

In the New Hampshire primary, voters from both major parties are choosing their preferred candidate for the general election. Although Joe Biden’s name will not appear on the primary ballot, a campaign led by state and local Democrats is urging voters to write in his name despite his approval of a new voting calendar that removed New Hampshire’s status as the first state to hold a primary. Despite this change, Biden is expected to win the state and secure the Democratic party’s nomination for a second term in the White House.

Why does it matter?

The fake robocalls and their falsification of President Biden’s identity highlight the potential disruption that deceptive tactics can have on election processes. The importance of upholding the integrity of election procedures and safeguarding against attempts to suppress voting or interfere with democratic processes is underscored. The ongoing investigation into the origin of the robocalls aims to identify the responsible parties and hold them accountable for their actions.