New Hampshire holds a special election to fill the vacant State House seat, in the Grafton 9 district, on September 5. Qualified parties hold primaries for this seat on July 18. On June 14, the New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission ordered that John Babiarz be permitted to file for the Libertarian primary. See this story.

Babiarz had been refused when he went to file for the Libertarian primary, because he was a registered independent. However, there were no registered Libertarians, in the eyes of the state, until early this year. That is because the Libertarian Party was not a ballot-qualified party until the votes had been counted in the November 8, 2016 election.

Voters in New Hampshire may not change parties at any time they wish. They must wait until their town clerk opens up the voter registration records and allows voters to change parties. Babiarz had not been permitted to register Libertarian after the special election was called. The Ballot Law Commission felt this was unfair, and ordered state and town election officials to accept his filing.

Babiarz has been a Libertarian Party activist in New Hampshire for many years, and has run for office as a Libertarian many times.