A robocall impersonating President Joe Biden is urging his supporters in New Hampshire not to vote in Tuesday's primary election.
The president's name doesn't actually appear on the state's ballot because election officials set the primary date ahead of Feb. 3, when South Carolina will hold the first sanctioned contest under newly implemented Democratic National Committee rules, and the robocall appears intended to undermine a campaign to write in Biden's name, reported NBC News.
“What a bunch of malarkey,” the voice message says, using one of the president's favorite phrases.
“It’s important that you save your vote for the November election," the message adds. “Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday."
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The message concludes with the phone number for Kathy Sullivan, a former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair who now runs a super PAC supporting the write-in campaign to show support for the president and send a message to the national party about the state's tradition as the first primary contest.
“It’s obviously somebody who wants to hurt Joe Biden," Sulllivan said. “I want them to be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible because this is an attack on democracy. I’m not going to let it go. I want to know who’s paying for it? Who knew about it? Who benefits?”
The campaign for Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who is challenging Biden, said the calls were "wildly concerning" when told about them.
“Any effort to discourage voters is disgraceful and an unacceptable affront to democracy,” said spokesperson Katie Dolan said. “The potential use of AI to manipulate voters is deeply disturbing.”
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for the Trump campaign denied any connection to the calls.
