New HampshireDepartment of JusticeOffice of the Attorney General

News Release

For Immediate Release
March 1, 2019

Contact:
Kate Spiner, Director of Communications
603-573-6103
kate.spiner@doj.nh.gov

Guilty Plea and Sentencing of Spencer McKinnon for Wrongful Voting

Concord, NH – Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald announces that Spencer McKinnon, age 21, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on February 28, 2019 in the Strafford County Superior Court to one Class A misdemeanor charge for providing a false statement on a voter registration form in the State of New Hampshire under RSA 659:34 in the 2016 General Election.

On October 24, 2016, Spencer McKinnon completed and submitted an absentee ballot for the November 6, 2016 general election and mailed it to the Town of Dracut, Massachusetts. Mr. McKinnon signed an affidavit on the absentee ballot envelope stating that he was eligible to vote in Massachusetts and that his hometown was Dracut, Massachusetts. Just two days later, on October 26, 2016, Mr. McKinnon signed and submitted a voter registration form in Durham, New Hampshire which contained false material information regarding his qualifications as a voter in New Hampshire, in that, he signed an affidavit, under the penalties of wrongful voting, that he was "not domiciled or voting in any other state or any other city/town."

Mr. McKinnon was sentenced to six months in the House of Corrections, all suspended for one year conditioned on the completion of 200 community service hours and paying a $2,000 fine. As part of the sentence, Mr. McKinnon has lost the right to vote in the State of New Hampshire.

Mr. McKinnon has agreed to cooperate as part of the terms of his plea agreement.

This is the first conviction as a result of investigations stemming from the Interstate Voter Crosscheck Program following the 2016 General Election.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Matthew T. Broadhead of the Election Law Unit and John J. Kennedy of the Criminal Justice Bureau. The Attorney General's investigation was conducted by Chief Investigator Richard Tracy of the Election Law Unit.

New Hampshire Department of Justice
1 Granite Place South | Concord, NH | 03301
Telephone: 603-271-3658