New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has withdrawn the nomination of a Republican county attorney to the Superior Court after questions were raised about her voting record.
The Executive Council had been scheduled to vote on the nomination of Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway for a vacancy on the Superior Court on Wednesday, but Sununu withdrew her name from consideration only a few hours prior to the meeting.
Sununu told councilors that Conway had made the decision to withdraw on her own. Instead, he nominated two other candidates to fill vacancies on the Superior Court. They were Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Leonard and Solicitor General Dan Will.
But the move followed revelations, raised by a member of the council, that Conway had potentially broken state law by casting ballots in two different towns in previous elections.
In a letter to Attorney General John Formella, Councilor Cinde Warmington wrote that voter records show that Conway and her husband had cast ballots in two different towns – Salem and Atkinson – in the 2008 general election and several other elections. Warmington, the only Democrat on the five-member board, called on Sununu to withdraw the nomination.
New Hampshire law prohibits voters from casting ballots in a town, or precinct, in which they aren’t registered.
“The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office vigorously prosecutes cases of voter fraud and, as a judge, Ms. Conway would be responsible for presiding over cases of individuals accused of such crimes,” Warmington wrote in the April 19 letter.
Conway, a Republican, was first elected to the county attorney job in 2014, according to the Sununu administration. She has been reelected three times since then.
The New Hampshire Bar Association had voiced concerns about her nomination, saying she was qualified for the job but noted “reservations about her legal knowledge outside of criminal law and with reservations about her impartiality and fairness.”
Democrats wasted no time criticizing Sununu for tapping Conway, arguing that the governor has fueled what they consider bogus claims about voter fraud supposedly committed by Democrats in the state.
“The entire nominating process for Pat Conway put Chris Sununu’s hypocrisy on full display,” New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said. “While Sununu pushes voter suppression schemes to disenfranchise college voters who are simply trying to legally vote in New Hampshire, he’ll look the other way when his political allies and donors break the law.”
This article was originally posted on Sununu appointee to New Hampshire Superior Court withdraws from consideration
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