New Hampshire House Bill 643 would move the non-presidential primary from the second Tuesday in September to the second Tuesday in June. It is sponsored by four Democratic representatives, and has a hearing in the House Election Law Committee on January 30.

New Hampshire petition deadlines for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties are tied to the date of the non-presidential primary. So if this bill passed, the petition deadline would be in May instead of August. Furthermore, New Hampshire requires independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to submit a declaration of candidacy approximately two months before the primary, so those declarations would be due in March. The declaration law even applies to independent presidential candidates.

The bill would also shrink the time for the full party petition, which cannot be circulated before January 1 of an election year. It would now be due in May instead of August.

If the bill passed, New Hampshire ballot access deadlines for independent candidates would be unconstitutional. New Hampshire is in the First Circuit, and in 1980 the First Circuit struck down Maine’s independent presidential petition deadline of April 1, in Anderson v Quinn, 634 F.2d 616.