Steven Kramer Charged with Voter Suppression Over AI-Generated President Biden Robocalls

Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella announces that today, Steven Kramer, age 54, of New Orleans, LA, has been indicted on charges of felony voter suppression and misdemeanor impersonation of a candidate.

On January 22, 2024, this Office announced that it was opening an investigation into reports of thousands of New Hampshire residents receiving a robocall message asking them to “save [their] vote for the November election” and stating “[y]our vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”  The voice in the recorded message appeared to have been artificially generated to sound like the voice of President Biden. The message additionally appeared to have been “spoofed” to falsely show that it had been sent by the treasurer of a political committee that had been supporting the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary write-in efforts for President Biden.

Following an investigation, Mr. Kramer has been charged with 13 felony counts of voter suppression, contrary to RSA 659:40, III, and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonation of a candidate, contrary to RSA 666:7-a.  The charges are spread across four counties based on the residence of thirteen New Hampshire residents who received the Biden Robocalls: Rockingham County (five counts of violating each statute); Belknap County (three counts); Grafton County (three counts); Merrimack County (two counts).

“New Hampshire remains committed to ensuring that our elections remain free from unlawful interference and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing.  The Federal Communications Commission will separately be announcing an enforcement action against Mr. Kramer based on violations of federal law.  I am pleased to see that our federal partners are similarly committed to protecting consumers and voters from harmful robocalls and voter suppression,” said Attorney General Formella. “I hope that our respective enforcement actions send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether through the use of artificial intelligence or otherwise.”

RSA 659:40, III provides: “No person shall engage in voter suppression by knowingly attempting to prevent or deter another person from voting or registering to vote based on fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, or spurious grounds or information.”  The RSA 659:40, III charges allege that Mr. Kramer violated the statute by sending or causing to be sent a pre-recorded phone message that disguised the source of the call, deceptively using an artificially created voice of a candidate, or providing misleading information in an attempt to deter thirteen identified voters from voting in the January 23, 2024 Presidential Primary Election.

RSA 666:7-a provides: “Any person who places a telephone call during which the person falsely represents himself or herself as a candidate for office shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”  The RSA 666:7-a charges allege that Mr. Kramer, by his own conduct or by the conduct of another person for which he is legally accountable, violated the statute by knowingly placing a telephone call to thirteen identified voters during which Mr. Kramer falsely represented himself as a candidate for office.

The charges and allegations against Mr. Kramer are merely accusations, and Mr. Kramer is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This matter was investigated by Investigator Richard Tracy of the Department of Justice’s Election Law Unit.  The criminal case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Brendan O’Donnell and Matthew Conley, also of the Election Law Unit.

The investigation into the AI-Generated President Biden Robocalls, including other potentially responsible parties, remains active and ongoing.

NOTE: Separate Federal Communications Commission Announcements: 

item-3-lingo-robocall-nal.pdf