City resident elected as Ward Six Ward Clerk barred from serving on primary day

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

ROCHESTER - A duly-elected ward clerk of Rochester's Ward Six who was prevented from serving on Primary Day is accusing the city attorney of denying him his rightful office because the Justice of the Peace who administered his oath of office is former city councilor Chris Rice, who was removed from office during a May 2022 City Council trial overseen by City Attorney Terence O'Rourke.
human, who took on the name legally about 10 years ago, was elected to the Ward Clerk slot in the Nov. 7 municipal election.
He said 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 a 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 is own oath since he is a Quaker and passed out copies of his oath and a picture of him with Rice, who is the Justice of the Peace who administered the oath.
human said he was confounded when he showed up at the Ward Six polls on Tuesday 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 told The Rochester Voice. "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 believes.
"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.
Human said he reported the incident to Rochester Police, but they deferred, suggesting he take the matter to the county attorney or attorney general.
"I haven't yet decided how exactly to address this most egregious violation of election law," he added.

O'Rourke was not immediately available for comment. He routinely ignores requests for comment from The Rochester Voice. If he does comment we will update this story.