Ballots were allegedly distributed around the polling place at Portsmouth High School. Moderator Heather Sullivan hadn’t seen the ballots in person, only took a look at the paper they were printed on and noticed they were a different size than regular ballots. He said it was all technically legal, though not morally dubious, from his perspective, since the campaigners were distributing them in the same area where other campaigns were distributing literature and calling them sample ballots. But he shared concerns that they may be trying to influence inexperienced voters.

“I feel like someone who only comes to vote every four years or is voting for the first time, could that have affected them? There’s a chance,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the group responsible hung out outside for a while before disappearing, and since his jurisdiction ended at the polling line outside his polling place, he decided to leave the matter to the Canvass Elections Office and other officials while continuing to manage the busy polling place. Even though they didn’t have any problems with the ballots, he said poll workers were scanning the ballot boxes regularly, and people weren’t there to make sure no one left campaign books in the ballot boxes.