While there are very few things New Hampshire Democrats and Republicans will agree on, one thing they do see eye to eye on is keeping the Granite State as the “first in the nation” primary state.
In part, because Joe Biden is beholden to influential South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, who some political observers credit with turning his 2020 presidential campaign around by endorsing him in Feb. 2020, the President pushed the DNC last year for South Carolina to be the first Democratic presidential primary on the grounds that the state was more “diverse” than New Hampshire and Iowa.
The DNC, of course, approved it. New Hampshire was not obliged to go along, noting the state should remain first due to its history and because of state law:
But New Hampshire refused to comply with the DNC’s new calendar, citing its century of experience holding the nation’s first presidential primary and a state law that required it hold a primary at least a week before any other state.New Hampshire’s secretary of state, a Republican, set the primary’s date for Jan. 23, knowing it would be out of compliance with DNC rules. And the DNC declared the primary invalid and warned the state would lose its delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
In an update to this story, the DNC has now found itself on the bad side of New Hampshire’s Republican-run Attorney General’s office after the DNC sent a letter to the state Democratic Party urging them to educate voters on how “meaningless” the primary supposedly was since Joe Biden wasn’t going to be on the ballot:
The state’s warning comes after the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws committee scolded New Hampshire Democrats for selecting delegates for the national convention this past weekend. The national party is not counting the Democratic primary on Jan. 23 as part of the official nominating process, after clashing with state Democrats about the order of this year’s primary calendar.The original letter from the DNC committee to New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, obtained first by POLITICO, accused state Democrats of disenfranchising voters by selecting delegates who won’t be seated at the convention and called the Jan. 23 primary “detrimental” and “meaningless.”
As a result, New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell sent the DNC a stern cease and desist notice, accusing them of violating the state’s voter suppression laws:
“Telling any person qualified to register to vote or vote in New Hampshire that the January 23, 2024, New Hampshire democratic Presidential Primary Election is ‘meaningless’… constitutes an attempt to prevent or deter New Hampshire voters from participating [in the primary]… in violation of RSA 659:40, III,” Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell wrote in the order to the DNC, citing a portion of the state’s voting rights law.“This matter remains open, and this Office reserves the right to take further enforcement action based on the actions described in this letter and any other actions that violate State election laws,” O’Donnell concludes.
“Falsely telling New Hampshire voters that a New Hampshire election is ‘meaningless’ violates New Hampshire voter suppression laws,” it read.
Here’s the full letter:
Though the DNC hasn’t yet publicly commented on the NH DOJ’s legal notice, New Hampshire Democrat Party Chairman Ray Buckley, who the DNC’s letter was addressed to, retweeted a copy of the notice on his Twitter page and in essence indicated his agreement with it in a statement issued to the media:
“Well, it’s safe to say in New Hampshire, the DNC is less popular than the NY Yankees,” the statement read. “State law requires the New Hampshire Secretary of State to conduct the first-in-the-nation primary and he is going to follow the law — period. Nothing has changed, and we look forward to seeing a great Democratic voter turnout on January 23rd.”
For a party that has spent the last several years accusing Republicans without evidence of “voter suppression,” being hit with the same accusation from one of their state parties in agreement with a Republican Attorney General is in my opinion karmic justice in action.
Your rules, Democrats. Your rules.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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