Some Francestown voters said they were concerned about text messages urging them to write in candidates on Tuesday’s Sept. 8 primary election ballot.
Two different texts — one from a political organization and one sent anonymously — urged Democratic voters to write in a Republican and an Independent candidate, respectively.
The first message, which included a blue banner that appeared to mimic the Francestown Democratic ballot, came from “Joe with Granite Solutions.” The message stated:
“Democrats left 1 slot empty on your primary ballot for State Representative. Write in Mary Murphy for State Representative to make sure the slate is full heading into November! Mary Murphy will work to make NH more affordable, expand childcare and make housing affordable again.”
Murphy, a Republican, is the incumbent state representative for Hillsborough County District 27, which includes Francestown and Deering. Murphy said Friday she wasn’t aware of the message.
Francestown resident Moe Baptiste received the text.
“We were all getting these different political notifications, but this one was strange. It didn’t say it was from the Democratic Party, but it basically said the Democrats neglected to put in a candidate, so please ‘write in Mary Murphy,'” Baptiste said. “But I was thinking to myself, wait a minute, she’s a Republican candidate, so what is this all about? I thought, that’s just really weird. So I went back and read it all over again, because I thought I had read it wrong. It was very, very strange.”
Granite State Solutions is a political organization that supports Republican candidates and advocates for their priorities — opposing broad-based taxes and “defending property rights,” among other things — in New Hampshire, and is run by state Rep. Joe Sweeney of Salem, the House deputy majority leader. Sweeney did not respond to a request for comment.
Some Democratic voters also received an anonymous text message from a toll-free phone number that suggested they write in Tim Coffin as the Democratic candidate in the primary. Coffin is running as an Independent and will be listed as such on November’s general election ballot.
New Hampshire law, RSA 664:14, generally requires political messages to identify who is sending or paying for them.
The Granite State Solutions message was legal because it identified who paid for the advertisement, Sue Jonas, co-chair of the Francestown Democratic Committee, said she learned from the attorney general’s office when she called to ask about them on Election Day.
The attorney general’s office oversees and enforces election law in New Hampshire. It did not respond to questions from the Ledger-Transcript.
Jonas said the Francestown Democratic Committee sent an email to voters clarifying its position on Murphy. It had made a “tactical decision” not to recruit a Democratic candidate in the primary after seeing Coffin quickly gain momentum in Francestown, she said.
“We had observed Tim Coffin, an Independent candidate, collect signatures at record speed. Within two weeks, he had passed the threshold for the number of signatures he needed to go on the ballot, so it was clear he would be running as an Independent in November. We decided we were going to sit this one out,” Jonas said. “Our goal is to make sure Mary Murphy gets her retirement papers on Nov. 3.”
Jonas said she doesn’t know who sent the anonymous message.
According to the Town of Francestown, 38 people wrote in Tim Coffin as a Democratic candidate for District 27. There were no write-in votes for Mary Murphy in Francestown.
When asked about the incident on Friday, Murphy said she had no knowledge of the text messages.
“This was the first I’ve heard about it. I honestly was totally unaware that this was happening,” she said.
When asked why Sweeney or Granite State Solutions would be sending text messages on her behalf, Murphy said Sweeney “probably wants me to be re-elected.”
Murphy said she “doesn’t have to win that way,” and that she expects to win in November based on her record.
“I don’t feel my campaign is doing anything unethical,” she said. “I had nothing to do with that campaign, and I am sorry that people were deceived by it.”
Coffin also said he was concerned after hearing about the messages.
“It’s an attempt to manipulate the outcome of an election by deceiving voters about their choices. I don’t think it’s what our neighbors want to see in local politics,” Coffin said.
On Monday, Coffin announced he will not accept the Democratic nomination for state representative and will continue to run as an Independent candidate, saying people “deserve representation focused on their needs rather than party interests.”