Bills have been introduced in both houses of the New Hampshire primary to move the non-presidential primaries from September to earlier dates. HB 481, with five sponsors, moves it to the second Tuesday in June. SB 222, with two sponsors, does the same. HB 408, with two sponsors, moves it to late August.

The deadlines for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to file declarations of candidacy and petitions, are tied to the date of the non-presidential primary. If the state moved the primary to June, and didn’t decouple the independent deadlines, independents would need to file a declaration of candidacy as early as March. Even presidential independents must file, so that would be unconstitutional under Anderson v Celebrezze.