CONCORD – Rep. Warren Groen (R-Rochester) today commented on his filing of an election law complaint with the Department of Justice against Rep. Anne Grassie (D-Rochester) for violating state law by voting in the September primary from an address where she does not live. At a September 20 meeting of the state’s Ballot Law Commission (BLC), Grassie indicated that she did not live at 146 Brock Street in Ward 4 of Rochester, the address from which she is running for election as a State Representative, but instead was continuing to live at 9 Central Avenue in Ward 6 in Rochester, the address from which she has been elected to for the past 9 terms as a Representative and as a member of the Rochester School Board.
The BLC dismissed a complaint to have Grassie removed from the ballot, since state law (RSA 655:8) only requires candidates to live at the address from which they are running on the day of the election (Nov. 6), and Grassie indicated at the September hearing that she intended to move to Ward 4 by Election Day. However, the City of Rochester records indicate that Grassie voted in Ward 4 for Democrat primary election, while still living in Ward 6, a violation of state law.
RSA 654:1 reads, “A person has the right to change domicile at any time, however a mere intention to change domicile in the future does not, of itself, terminate an established domicile before the person actually moves.” (Emphasis added.)
Rep. Warren Groen
“I am disappointed by Rep. Grassie’s choice to vote in a district where she doesn’t even live. When she signed up for office in June, she signed an affidavit that she lived in Ward 4, even though she clearly did not. Beyond that, she voted in Ward 4 in September, even though she wasn’t living there at the time. That’s against the law. The citizens of Rochester deserve better than this type of dishonesty and deceptiveness. The time has come for Rep. Grassie to admit to her transgressions, apologize to the citizens of Rochester, and announce her formal withdrawal from the election by asking them not to vote for her. Lawmakers should not be lawbreakers.”
“After talking with Secretary Gardner about this incident, I felt the right answer was to file an election law complaint. If the Attorney General has any interest in protecting the integrity of our election laws, he will move quickly to investigate Rep. Grassie’s admission that she violated New Hampshire election laws before she can perpetrate another fraud on the voters of Rochester.”
LINK: Election Law Complaint