New Hampshire Representative David Huot (D-Laconia) has introduced HB 588. It expands eligibility for candidates to run in a presidential primary. Currently the law says no one may file to run in a presidential primary unless the candidate is a member of that party. The bill allows non-members of a party to run in its primary if the party recognizes that the candidate is seeking its nomination.

In 2016, the New Hampshire Secretary of State threatened to keep Bernie Sanders off the Democratic presidential primary ballot because Sanders was not a Democrat. In the end the state allowed Sanders to file, but this bill would conform the law to actual practice. In any event, in 1986 the U.S. Supreme Court said in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that the First Amendment protects a party’s right to nominate a non-member if that is what the party wants to do.