On January 29, the New Hampshire House Election Law Committee held a hearing on HB 97 and HB 98, the bills to move the non-presidential primary from September to an earlier month. One bill puts it in June and the other puts it in August. See this story.

New Hampshire irrationally ties the petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to the date of the primary. Advocates of tolerant ballot access testified against the bills. In New Hampshire, committees do not vote on the same day on which they hold hearings, so no one knows yet whether the bills will advance. If the June primary bill passes, that would move the petition deadline, even for independent presidential candidates, from August to May, and the declaration of candidacy deadline from June to March.