A federal judge has cleared the way for independent U.S. Senate candidate Aaron Day to be on the ballot this November.
U.S. District Court Judge Landya B. McCafferty, in a two-page order issued Monday, ordered New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan to accept Day’s declaration of intent and "include him on the ballot if he is otherwise eligible."
The judge concluded the state’s requirement that Senate candidates be registered to vote where they live runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution and federal legal precedent.
In June, Scanlan twice denied Day’s candidacy on the grounds he was not registered to vote in Nashua, where he now lives after moving from Bedford. The state’s Ballot Law Commission later affirmed Scanlan’s decision.
Last month, however, a federal magistrate concluded the state’s rejection of Day’s candidacy was not “constitutionally sound.”
While states have the authority to regulate the time, place and manner of federal elections by imposing procedural requirements on ballot access and by conditional ballot access on a threshold of showing electoral support, “states do not have the power to impose extraconstitutional, substantive restrictions on ballot access that pertain to characteristics personal to the candidate,” McCafferty wrote.
Those characteristics include district residency requirements and voter registration requirements, according to the order.
Day, a libertarian activist, also ran for U.S. Senate in 2016. And he contends his 2026 bid will spoil the race for John E. Sununu, who leads in Republican polls. In 2016, Day claimed his independent campaign for U.S. Senate helped defeat then Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Day said he used AI to write his court filings, a point he raised on social media in the wake of the McCafferty order.
“If you like how I used AI to defeat the state in court, you will love my campaign,” Day posted. He said he plans to file certified candidate papers Wednesday at the Secretary of State’s office.
There are currently four other candidates who filed their declaration of intent for U.S. Senate for the November ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
On the ballot in the state primary election on Sept. 8, there are eight Republican candidates and five Democratic candidates seeking their respective party nomination for U.S. Senate.
