EXETER, New Hampshire — Deepfakes have arrived at the New Hampshire primary.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Granite State Democrats are receiving messages from a voice purporting to be President Biden warning them not to go to the polls.
“What a bunch of malarkey,” the recorded message from “Biden” begins, according to NBC News, before telling recipients to “save your vote for the November election.”
“Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday,” the voice says, according to the outlet.
The call ends with a redirect to former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan, who is running a super PAC dedicated to telling voters to write in Biden’s name on the ballot on Tuesday.
Biden, 81, won’t be listed as an option in New Hampshire due to a calendar disagreement between state officials and the Democratic National Committee.
New Hampshire refused to comply with the DNC’s proposal to have South Carolina hold the first primary election Feb. 3, since Granite State law mandates that its primary precede that of all other states by at least seven days.
The Write-in Biden campaign has been activating grassroots organizers to tell voters to fill in Biden’s name themselves in a bid to save the president from embarrassment on Tuesday at the hands of rivals Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and Marianne Williamson.
“This is deep fake disinformation designed to harm Joe Biden, suppress votes, and damage our democracy. It is being referred to law enforcement so that they can determine who is responsible and bring them to justice,” Write-In Biden spokesperson Aaron Jacobs said in a statement.
“We are confident that New Hampshire voters will respond by showing up to the polls and making clear that we won’t be intimidated by these dirty tricks. We remain focused on one goal until polls close on Tuesday: encouraging Granite Staters to write-in Joe Biden.”
Biden is currently averaging 62.7% support in New Hampshire, per RealClearPolitics, while Phillips has an average of 10.7%.
In 2020, Biden finished fifth in New Hampshire before jump-starting his campaign with a blowout win in South Carolina.
The Biden campaign, which has no ties to the write-in effort, also condemned the messages.
In 2020, Biden finished fifth in New Hampshire before jump-starting his campaign with a blowout win in South Carolina.
“This matter has already been referred to the New Hampshire Attorney General, and the campaign is actively discussing additional actions to take immediately,” Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said. “Spreading disinformation to suppress voting and deliberately undermine free and fair elections will not stand, and fighting back against any attempt to undermine our democracy will continue to be a top priority for this campaign.”
The Phillips campaign said they had no additional knowledge of the calls beyond what has been reported, with a rep saying “any effort to discourage voters is disgraceful and an unacceptable affront to democracy. The potential use of AI to manipulate voters is deeply disturbing.”
A rep for former President Donald Trump told The Post, “not us, we have nothing to do with it,” when asked about the robocalls.