Admittedly, I didn’t know Susan Bruce as well as many of you, but I have to believe she’d get a real kick out of the announcement this past week by the Mount Washington Valley Republican Committee that they are starting their own newspaper to expose supposed rampant voter fraud.
For years, we’ve heard former state representatives below about buses of illegal voters coming across the borders, always without proof because it’s so difficult to carry a camera with you everywhere you go these days.
There are indeed sporadic occasions of voter fraud. This newspaper reported on one right here in Madison in 2016. A man had registered to vote in Madison as well as at another property of his in Massachusetts and cast ballots in both states. His name has been published in this and other papers because he pleaded guilty to the crime was fined and lost his right to vote in New Hampshire. I encourage the Mount Washington Valley Republicans to start their in-depth investigation with him and check his party registration.
It’s not as if the state hasn’t investigated accusations of voter fraud over the years like the local Republicans imply. There have been investigations and occasional convictions of voters voting in two towns or states. Usually, it’s wealthy individuals who own land in multiple municipalities and states and feel entitled to vote in every place they pay taxes. And when I say occasional convictions, we’re talking about single digits in a state with 1.5 million people over 20 years. That is nowhere near enough prevalence to affect even a state representative race never mind a presidential or gubernatorial race, as the local Republicans would imply.
If John Hartman and Steven Steiner don’t respect New Hampshire law enforcement and the investigations they conduct on a regular basis, then I do encourage them to use Republican resources to conduct their own extrajudicial investigation and let us all know what they uncover in their supposed new online newspaper, The New Hampshire Times. Democrats will be busy working to organize and serve the people of New Hampshire by defending their First Amendment rights, public schools and health-care freedom. All of which are under attack in the latest Republican state budget.
This is all a continuation of The Big Lie that one-term President Donald Trump has been espousing since he lost the 2020 election by 7 million votes and 74 Electoral College votes. His only hope to remain relevant in national politics and in the former Grand Old Party is to continue accusing states of conducting fraudulent elections, even in states like Georgia where the governor and Secretary of State are Republicans or New Hampshire, where a Republican governor was elected while Mr. Trump lost again by over 60,000 votes.
This isn’t being done because of actual voter fraud; it’s being done because of voter turnout. Enough voters like you turned out last fall to defend our democracy that the Republicans are grasping at straws to explain the utter failure of the Trump administration. Perhaps the victories by Gov. Chris Sununu, State Sen. Jeb Bradley and Reps. Karen Umberger and Mark McConkey in 2020 should also be in doubt.
The once Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln is apparently now willing to try and discredit the American electoral system and burn down all institutions to cling to power for a few more years. They are no longer concerned with the long-term success of the American experiment or the well-being of the American people. Their top priority is to return to power a failing New York real estate developer.
I am by no means a media publishing expert, but I do have a little advice for the Mount Washington Valley Republicans if they’re serious about establishing an online newspaper, as their vice chairman suggested.
First, secure all domain names even close to yours before announcing your online newspaper. As of July 13, newhampshiretimes.com redirects to the New Hampshire Union Leader website, while thenewhampshiretimes.com does go to a right-wing misinformation site with an Intervale mailing address. I’m sure there is a boiler room in Trump Tower pumping out these website templates to unwitting local Republican committees at a significant cost to them and their donors.
Second, if you want to expand their voter base and win elections, send the information from this supposed “newspaper” to more people than just your current email list. Otherwise, you’re preaching to the choir and your emails will go to junk mail folders along with messages from Nigerian princes and those selling male enhancement pills. All three have the same legitimacy, though, so perhaps that’s where messages about this witch hunt belong.
Erik Corbett lives in Conway with his wife and two cats and a dog.
