The New Hampshire Democratic Party has been ordered to cease and desist sending erroneous mailers to state residents urging them to sign up for absentee voting, which prosecutors said are "causing voter confusion and frustration."
The announcement from the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office Friday comes about seven weeks before the general election, with the state's U.S. Senate race among the contests drawing national attention.
The errors in the mailers, which went to 926 voters in 39 places across New Hampshire, included incorrectly telling voters they "have a history of requesting absentee ballots," referring to boards of elections that don't exist and including incorrect addresses, officials announced.
"The NHDP's mailer, with incorrect return mail addresses and voter domicile information, is causing voter confusion and frustration," and could lead voters to inadvertently violate election law or request an absentee ballot that never arrives, the attorney general's office said in a statement.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
The issue "was a regrettable clerical error made by a mail vendor with the intention of ensuring every Granite Stater was able to cast their ballot in this year's general election," New Hampshire Democratic Party Executive Director Troy Price told NBC10 Boston in a statement.
He said the party is working with the attorney general's office to fix the situation by contacting the affected voters "and we expect to have this issue resolved shortly."
The party's plan on how to contact and assist affected voters is due Tuesday, state officials said. Election clerks will be instructed to accept absentee ballot applications sent to the wrong location, despite having limited resources to work with.
A representative for state Democrats noted that the cease-and-desist order only applies to absentee ballot mailers with incorrect information.
