New Hampshire Attorney General: We Will Do Better On Voter Fraud

Clarification: This article has been updated as of Sept. 15, 2020, to note that critics of Project Veritas say the right-leaning activist group engages in deceptive actions and selectively edits video. The update includes a response from Project Veritas.

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office is making structural reforms concerning voter fraud cases after the discovery that investigators appear to have been sitting on voter fraud evidence for more than eight months.

Attorney General Gordon MacDonald made the announcement during an interview with James O'Keefe III of Project Veritas Sept. 4 after the organization questioned staffers from the Election Law Unit in August about the lack of action against a double voting suspect from 2016 — even though investigators had evidence about the case for nearly a year.

The case involves Vincent Marzello of West Lebanon, a registered undeclared voter who was arrested last week on a felony double voting charge. He is accused of creating a new persona, dressing as a woman, registering as a Democrat, and then voting as himself and the persona in the 2016 general election.

The persona, "Helen Elisabeth Ashley," was registered at Marzello's address. The state's challenged voter affidavit from 2016 clearly shows a picture of Marzello wearing a wig. Ashley was also signed up to be an Inspector of Election for the New Hampshire Democratic Party for the 2020 election cycle. The party rescinded the invitation after being told of the double voting investigation.

Project Veritas, an undercover citizen group that has been tracking voter fraud in New Hampshire for years, approached Marzello on Aug 21 and questioned him. In the exchange, he was recorded admitting to voting twice, according to video.

Critics of the activist group, which has ties to the Trump administration, say it targets media organizations and left-leaning groups with deceptive actions and selectively edited videos. In March, The New York Times reported Project Veritas used spies to infiltrate Democratic congressional campaigns and labor unions.

"Not a single one of our videos has been proven to be deceptively edited or taken out of context," said James O’Keefe, CEO and founder of Project Veritas, in a statement emailed to Patch.*

Here is the full Project Veritas video with AG staffers.

During the course of a number of weeks, James O'Keefe III and other Project Veritas team members also interviewed the state police trooper who first got a tip about the case from the Newport Department of Motor Vehicle in 2018 about a possible identity fraud case. The trooper, James Decker, began investigated the matter which included visiting the Lebanon City Clerk's Office and obtaining records. He quickly discovered the case was not about ID fraud but voter fraud.

After discovering it was a voter fraud case, Decker was told to hand over the materials to the attorney general's office, which he did in December 2019 — where the case languished.

After investigating the case themselves, including footage of Marzello, Project Veritas staffers met with Jane Young, James Boffetti, and Nicholas Chong Yen, who heads up elections investigations, about the case and asked why an arrest had not been made after more than eight months of having investigatory materials and evidence. During questioning, Yen was asked about how Marzello attempted to create a fake ID during the case. In the interview, it appeared as if Yen knew little about the case or even that New Hampshire had voter ID cards.

"I'm not aware of there being a voter card in the state of New Hampshire," he was recorded saying.

Decker was interviewed again and confirmed the state had three forms of ID: Driver's licenses, non-driver's licenses, and voter ID cards and that the case was brought forward based on a tip from the DMV about the ID. MacDonald also confirmed the state issued voter ID cards. He, however, defended Yen's handling of the unit saying since taking over, more successful prosecutions of voter fraud have been issued than any other assistant attorney general in state history.

Here is the full Project Veritas video with MacDonald and Decker.

MacDonald credited Project Veritas for being the catalyst for Marzello's arrest and confirmed residents obtaining voter ID cards illegally was a problem in the state.

MacDonald also told O'Keefe the department would be revamping and reforming its voter fraud case processes. Some of those changes include the creation of a case management system to ensure staffers track the progress of cases more effectively; giving Boffetti, who is an associate attorney general, a more active role in overseeing the Election Law Unit and requiring him to meet with officials weekly to discuss cases; and MacDonald will also meet with Young, the assistant attorney general, monthly to go through cases, too.

MacDonald said staffers completed a review of all voter fraud cases and would be moving forward on prosecuting them in a timely manner.

The Election Law Unit has come under fire during the past eight years for mishandling or not investigating potential voter fraud cases or cracks in the registration system as well as the state's continuous updating of its voter identification laws often based on which political party is in power.

In 2013, state officials said while they were trying to chip away at investigating tens of thousands of voter affidavits filed in New Hampshire, they lacked the funds to complete the tasks — and admitted a few years later that thousands of affidavits from the 2012 and 2014 elections remained untouched in boxes.

O'Keefe and Project Veritas have been in the state a number of times during the past decade, releasing uncover videos showing how easy it is to vote in New Hampshire — including an attempt at same-day registration of a dead person. The journalists have also tracked down campaign workers for presidential efforts who do not live in the state but have filed to vote here. The org also uncovered the Bernie Sanders for President campaign allowing non-citizens to work on its campaign in New Hampshire and Nevada — which led to the campaign being fined, and tracked down other double voters, like Robert Bell of Atkinson, who voted in both New Hampshire and Florida during the 2018 election.

About two years ago, the state approved legal language to better clarify the definition of who can vote in the state's elections — effectively eliminating a loophole which allowed non-residents like out-of-state college students, "visiting professionals," and "modern mobile workforces" to vote in New Hampshire without establishing residency. Those domiciled or professionals who register to vote here have 60 days to obtain a new driver's license and register any vehicles they may own in the state. Critics have called the changes a poll tax and denounced the laws as disenfranchisement while supporters said every vote by a non-resident offsets the votes of people who live here.

After legal challenges, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled the new provisions constitutional.

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube channel. Follow the New Hampshire Patch Politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.