Yesterday, Granite State voters received a rude shakedown when a robocall, mimicking President Joe Biden's voice, hit phones across New Hampshire with a message straight out of the twilight zone: Don't bother voting in tomorrow's primary. The state's Attorney General's office was quick to label the audio skullduggery an "artificially generated" sham and an "unlawful attempt to disrupt" the sacred democratic process, according to a statement released today and acquired by WHDH.
This sinister robocall tried to convince voters that their civic duty was pointless for the primary and to solely save their voting might for November. The Attorney General's office quickly debunked that notion, urging voters to emphatically ignore the content of this deceptive dial-up. They clarified that New Hampshire residents have the right, indeed the privilege, to cast their ballots in both the primary and the general election, as mentioned in a release captured by NBC10 Boston. Despite President Biden's name being notably absent from the ballot due to a DNC scheduling shift favoring South Carolina, voters could still jot down Biden's name in a write-in effort backed by supportive political committees.
In a techno-twist for the history books, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan identified the bogus Biden broadcast as a deepfake - a digital puppeteering act so convincing it could rattle the steeliest of nerves. This phantasm of technology, reversing its engineer's voice to impersonate leaders of the free world, "reinforces kind of a national concern" about the burgeoning battleground of artificial intelligence and its potential to gnarl the gears of campaigns and elections, reportedly Scanlan told NBC10 Boston.
The New Hampshire AG's office, donning its detective hat, is now diving deep into the investigation of this electoral enigma, enlisting the public in their hunt for the shady source of the robocall. They have asked anyone who received this auditory oddity to step forward with details such as receiving time, call origin, and any other pieces to this bewildering puzzle. The goal: to combat such disinformation with the swiftness, even if it means voters need to double-check their facts and avoid being thrown off by manufactured mimicry, as Scanlan suggested in his interview with NBC10 Boston. With the election machine in full swing and the integrity of the vote hanging in balance, New Hampshire stands defiant against the shadowy forces aiming to shatter the trust between the government's words and the people's ears.
