The case of a local Democrat who interfered in a special election back in 2021 has finally concluded. Michael Drouin has pleaded guilty to knowingly blocking campaign communications on the day of that NH House special election in Merrimack.
According to a court affidavit, state Rep. Joe Sweeney, R-Salem, who also works for the New Hampshire GOP, filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office election law unit about a false ad on Craigslist which contained the cellphone number of Bill Boyd, then a town councilor and the Republican candidate in the April 2021 special election to replace Hinch, who died in December 2020. The ad promoted a free trailer, and Boyd’s phone was being jammed all morning, the report said. Boyd shut off his cell phone after realizing he was being targeted and receiving dozens of text messages and voicemails during a 45-minute time period.
In New Hampshire, election law violations can, at the court’s discretion, result in the loss of your right to vote in the state – forever!
Art 11 “…No person shall have the right to vote under the constitution of this state who has been convicted of treason, bribery or any willful violation of the election laws of this state or of the United States; but the supreme court may, on notice to the attorney general, restore the privilege to vote to any person who may have forfeited it by conviction of such offenses.“
Drouin, a registered Democrat at the time with connections to the town Democrat party, is prohibited from voting in any New Hampshire election until an AG requests of the State Supreme Court that it be restored – which the court is under no obligation to do.
There is also no obligation to charge anyone with election law violations like for the illegal voting that occurs in every New Hampshire election.
In one rare instance, in 2019, a Massachusetts resident attending the University of New Hampshire lost his “right” to vote in New Hampshire after voting in Durham after submitting an absentee ballot in his hometown across the border in the Bay State. The moral of that election fraud story is that out-of-state students should only cast an illegal vote in NH. By also voting absentee in his home state – proving (once again) that out-of-state students in NH have never had their voting rights violated as claimed by the NH Dems for whom they vote – he could have kept stealing votes for Democrats in the Granite State.
In other election interference news, Carl Robert Gibson, a Democrat activist and campaign operative for her Democrat opponent, sent out an “11th-hour” email pretending to be Republican Candidate Yvonne Dean Bailey, claiming “she” was dropping out of the election. Gibson, who was also joking after a few beers, engaged in identity theft, fraud, and election interference.
Gibson, who “had a car with two-year expired Connecticut plates and a Kentucky driver’s license,” was indicted, arrested, and eventually went to court.
The case got tangled up on whether the state had the right to demand email correspondence from a reporter at the Concord Monitor. I have no clue what happened with Gibson though I suspect he likely walked away with a slap on the wrist if even that.
There are numerous stories like this of double-voting and out-of-state student voting. But when it comes to election interference, it is hard to get justice in the Granite State. When it happens, it’s a big deal. As for Drouin, he initially claimed “it” was a joke but pleaded guilty to the charges against him.
He must pay a fine, perform community service, and he may no longer vote “legally” in the state of New Hampshire as if that has ever stopped a Democrat before today.