This story in the Keene Sentinel describes some of the election administration problems in New Hampshire on September 11, for the Libertarian primary. The state had not been required to administer a primary for any party other than the two major parties since 1996.
Based on the comments, I am assuming that New Hampshire is using paper ballots: “The tallying of Libertarian votes for the governor’s race continued throughout the day Wednesday, with no winner declared,…” “…he noted that the ballots were available at the polls.” If so, is this just for the primary and then they use electronic machines for the November general?
Not trying to change the subject here, but it does not appear that the problem is of technical nature, thus my advocacy for in-public hand-counted paper ballots.
Also, I am surprised to see Libertarians using a government system (using taxpayer dollars) for determining their candidates. Certainly I can see how, as a small party seeking attention, they would be tempted to do this, but, IMO, it conflicts with their general philosophy. Libertarians nominate by convention here in West Va and voluntarily decline primary participation (opposite of the Mountain/Green Party).
Richard, in how many states where Libertarians are permitted to use the primary do they use it versus convention nomination? Thank you.
Mini-Gov and Anarchist factions in the LP
Jeff,
In some states, parties are not allowed to nominate by convention. Oklaoma is one of them. All parties must use the state run primary system.
The article said that there is a quirk in New Hampshire law that permits registered Republicans and Democrats to vote in the primary of a newly qualified party (based on getting more than 4% in the last gubernatorial election. New Hampshire has biennial elections, and New Hampshire might be one state where the Libertarian vice-presidential candidate William Weld had coattails.
As of July 2018, there were only 267 registered Libertarians in New Hampshire, since it was impossible to register in a non-qualified party.
New Hampshire permits “undeclared” voters to vote in partisan primaries. Their registration is changed to that of the party, unless they fill out a form to return their status to “undeclared” as they leave the polling place. Some New Hampshire voters make a habit of maintaining an undeclared status, so they can choose their party for the First-In-The-Nation Presidential Circus every four years. If you have a declared party, it has to be established before the primary.
So you can register as a Republican, and will be able to vote in the Republican primary. Or if you are undeclared, you can make the declaration on election day. Some clever voters would do this, and then change their registration a month after the election. New Hampshire simply makes it easier by permitting the form to be filled out as you leave.
It appears that since it would have taken affirmative effort to switch to Libertarian registration, that New Hampshire permits Democrats and Republicans to also vote in the Libertarian primary, but also to maintain their partisan registration.
New Hampshire elections are conducted by individual towns (that is why Dixville Notch can report its results so early – there is a law that says a town can set its own opening hour, and that after everyone has voted they can close the poll and count the votes).
There are likely poll workers in New Hampshire who have been doing that for 80 years, and think they know the law perfectly, and refer to the town clerk who is 70 and in her job for 30 years as “that girl down at the town hall”. The SOS had informed the town officials of the special procedure. The clerk may have told the poll judge, and prefaced it with “this is confusing”. The poll judge may have wanted to empathize with the town clerk, and thought, “I am going to be confused, I’ve got to concentrate on being confused, I am confused.” It also appears that if a Democrat or Republican requested a Libertarian ballot they were to call the town clerk.
And then you have the voter. In Texas, you can vote a partial ballot at your old polling place, if you have moved within the county and not updated your registration address. The election clerk will look at your driver’s license, look you up in the voting roll, and ask “do you still live at this address?”. The voter will infer, “if you have moved, you can’t vote”. So they will say, “Yes”
I have a neighbor who switched apartments, and got his driver’s license updated. At the polling place he was asked about the mismatch, and I’m pretty sure he was permitted to vote. But he believed that if he had told the poll workers that he was a Republican, there would not have been a hassle. But he is hard of hearing, and also one of those types who believes he has an innate sense of understanding character and assessing motives. There brain processing converts “what was the question?” to “why was that question asked?” or worse, “why did they ask ME that question?”