An assertion by the Democratic National Committee that the scheduled Jan. 23 New Hampshire Democratic primary is “meaningless” has sparked a sharp response from the Attorney General’s Office, which sent a cease-and-desist letter to the national party Monday.
“Falsely telling New Hampshire voters that a New Hampshire election is ‘meaningless’ violates New Hampshire voter suppression laws,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote in its letter.
The letter instructs the national party to “immediately cease and desist” from deterring any New Hampshire voters from participating in the Democratic primary, and tells them not to repeat the “false, misleading, and deceptive statement” that the primary is meaningless.
The warning came days after the heads of a key DNC committee wrote a Jan. 5 letter to New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley urging him to inform New Hampshire voters that the winner of the state’s Democratic primary will not count toward the national nomination process.
“The NHDP must take steps to educate the public that January 23rd is a non-binding presidential preference event and is meaningless and the NHDP and presidential candidates should take all steps possible not to participate,” the letter to Buckley stated. It was signed by Minyon Moore and James Roosevelt Jr., the co-chairs of the Rules and Bylaws Committee.
The status and significance of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential primary has been in flux since December 2022, when the DNC made moves to change the order of the primary states. Back then, national committee members on the Rules and Bylaws Committee recommended making South Carolina the first state to hold a primary in the 2024 presidential nomination calendar, bumping New Hampshire down to a shared second place with Nevada.
The recommendation, which came at the urging of President Joe Biden, became official after a vote by the full DNC at a convention in February.
Since the calendar change was first proposed, Buckley and New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan have both said the state would not comply with the DNC’s preferred nominating order. New Hampshire has a state statute directing the secretary of state to hold the New Hampshire primary at least a week before any similar nominating contest; Scanlan set the Jan. 23 date in November only once all other states – including South Carolina – had set theirs.
The DNC had attempted to convince New Hampshire lawmakers to repeal the primary statute and allow the Democratic primary to be split from the Republican primary and held later. Lawmakers in both parties declined to do so. When the filing period for presidential candidates arrived in October, Biden opted not to add his name to the New Hampshire ballot, citing the state party’s lack of compliance with the party’s calendar.
According to the DNC’s letter to Buckley last week, Moore and Roosevelt had told the New Hampshire Democratic Party on Dec. 13 that the winner of the state’s primary would not be awarded any delegates at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August. They warned the state party not to nominate New Hampshire delegates to attend that convention, since none would be awarded. The state party did so on Saturday anyway.
The letter was later obtained by POLITICO and published Saturday, generating outrage online from both Democrats and Republicans in the state.
Now, the Attorney General’s Office argues that the DNC’s letter violated RSA 659:40, III, the state statute that states that “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.”
“Regardless of whether the DNC refuses to award delegates to the party’s national convention based on the results of the January 23, 2024, New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary election, that election is not ‘meaningless,’” the Attorney General’s letter states. “Your statements to the contrary are false, deceptive, and misleading.”
The Attorney General’s Office’s letter came hours after 70 state Republicans signed a letter led by House Speaker Sherman Packard asking the Justice Department to investigate the DNC’s letter for voter suppression.
It is unclear what steps might follow. The office’s letter said that it “reserves the right to take further enforcement action” in court. At that point, the DNC could try to throw out the cease-and-desist letter in court.
In a statement Monday, Buckley said the DNC’s letter would not affect the primary.
“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,” Buckley wrote. “Nothing has changed, and we look forward to seeing a great Democratic voter turnout on January 23rd.”
New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@newhampshirebulletin.com. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.
