Rochester man files election interference complaint with Attorney Generals Office

From left, City Attorney Terence O'Rourke, human's oath of office and human with Justice of the Peace Chris Rice (Courtesy photos)

ROCHESTER - A Rochester resident who says he was barred from serving as Ward 6 ward clerk during last month's New Hampshire primary has filed a complaint with the Attorney Generals Office.
The resident, who changed his name to human about 10 years ago, filed the paperwork on Monday about 10 days after he filed a similar complaint with the Secretary of State's Office.
Human said he was duly elected to be ward clerk during then November municipal elections, but was barred from performing his duly-elected duties by Rochester City Attorney Terence O'Rourke, who has refused all comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, the City Council voted on Feb. 6 to declare human's ward clerk position vacant, with only councilors David Herman and Matthew Richardson voting against removal.
"At that council meeting, Terence O'Rourke made the false claim that I refused to subscribe an oath of office as required by law," human noted in his complaint. "I explained to the Council how the oath I subscribed (a Quaker variant of the oath prescribed by RSA 92:3) meets the criteria set by law. Nevertheless, in an 11-2 vote, the Council voted to declare my office vacant."
The Secretary of State's Office told The Rochester Voice earlier this month that they were looking into the matter and that they would be contacting human directly after completing their probe.
Human was duly-elected Ward Clerk of Rochester's Ward Six during the municipal elections in November, but when he showed up at the polls to perform his duties on Primary Day he was denied his rightful office by O'Rourke, human believes.
Human told The Voice that when he went to the City Clerk's Office to give his oath of office he learned that the City of Rochester did not have a Quaker oath variant.
Since human is Quaker, he said he wrote up his own oath "based on the language of the RSAs and the New Hampshire Constitution."
Then on Jan. 16 during City Council public input human explained why he had to fashion his own oath since he is a Quaker and passed out copies of his oath and a picture of him with Chris Rice, the Justice of the Peace who administered the oath.
Human said he was confounded when he showed up at the Ward Six polls on Primary Day and was told by Moderator Sara Eames that she would not allow him to serve as Ward Clerk.
"According to Rochester City Clerk Kelly Walters, who instructed Eames not to let me serve, O'Rourke is of the opinion that my Oath of Office is somehow deficient," he said. "O'Rourke wanted me to subscribe an oath with different language not specified by the New Hampshire Constitution."
Basically, they were asking me - as my first official act in office - to violate state law, human said.
"In the end, I suspect that O'Rourke's objection to the Oath of Office has less to do with its language, and more to do with the Justice of the Peace who administered the Oath.
O'Rourke presided as a de facto judge during the City Council trial of former councilor Rice, who was removed from office in May 2022.
Human said he first reported the incident to Rochester Police, but they did not want to get involved, he said.
In Human's six-page complaint he notes that during a meeting preparing for the upcoming primary Rochester City Clerk Kelly Walters told him that O'Rourke objected to his oath, but let him participate in the event.
Human has also filed complaints with New Hampshire State Police and the Strafford County Attorneys Office.
New Hampshire law requires the Attorney Generals Office to investigate all election complaints and report on its finding every six months, which ensures that the facts of the investigation come out prior to the November general election.