Former Republican State Rep. Troy E. Merner has been indicted on one class B felony count of wrongful voting by a Coos County grand jury.
Merner, 63, of Carroll, was arrested on the same charge in late November along with some other charges after the Attorney General’s Office made public an investigation that ultimately showed Merner served in the House for the whole last session while living outside his Lancaster district by moving to Carroll.
The matter stirred controversy when Merner told some people that House leadership knew he had moved but wanted him to stay on because the Republicans needed his vote with only a slim majority. He hasn’t said who in leadership told him to stay.
Merner resigned from the House and his seat on the Lancaster selectboard right after the Attorney General’s Office made public a Sept. 18, 2023, letter to House Speaker Sherman Packard detailing its investigation into Merner’s domicile.
The indictment alleges that Merner knowingly voted for an office during the March 14, 2023, Lancaster town election and that he was not qualified to vote in Lancaster because he wasn’t living there.
As a class B felony, the wrongful voting charge carries a potential sentence of 3½ to 7 years in the State Prison and a fine of up to $4,000.
If convicted, he would also lose the right to vote in New Hampshire.
Merner was arrested for the charge in late November along with a class A misdemeanor count of theft by deception, alleging on mileage cards that he lived in Lancaster when in fact, he resided in Carroll, resulting in Merner receiving greater travel reimbursements to the State House from the state than he was entitled to receive, in an aggregate amount that did not exceed $1,000, according to a press release at the time from the Attorney General’s Office.
Merner was also charged in late November with misdemeanor A counts of unsworn falsification and tampering with public records in connection with falsely reporting his address on a General Court mileage card.
The class A misdemeanor charges each carry a potential penalty of up to one year in the House of Corrections and a fine of up to $2,000.
This case is being jointly investigated and prosecuted by members of the Election Law Unit and the Public Integrity Unit and the investigation remains active and ongoing, according to Mike Garrity, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office.
A dispositional conference is currently scheduled for March 11.