Washington
The Democrats unofficially began their primaries in New Hampshire this Tuesday (23). The vote came despite the party's national leadership changing the calendar under pressure from Joe Biden whose name wasn't even on the ballot.
Nevertheless, a projection by the American broadcaster CNN suggests that the president was the winner, confirming the result predicted by polls on voting intentions. Allies of the president launched a campaign in the state asking voters to write their names, an option provided in the primaries, and thus prevent the Democrats' calendar from ending with a strange, if unofficial, defeat for the incumbent begins.
Since the counting of handwritten votes takes much longer, the official result is not expected to be announced until this Wednesday (24th).
The president's campaign ensured that the primary began in South Carolina, whose electorate is more diverse and closer to the profile of the party's base, bypassing Iowa and New Hampshire, where the contest historically began.
Iowa agreed, but New Hampshire did not and kept the date. Because it is unofficial, no delegates are at stake in the vote. During the day, Biden traveled to Manassas, Virginia, to attend a rally in defense of abortion rights that focused on the general election against Donald Trump.
The intraparty dispute was exploited by Dean Phillips, who challenged Joe Biden at the end of the year for the party's place in the presidential race. The congressman launched his campaign in the state, where he invested millions of his own pocket.
Even if you don't win any delegates, a good showing around 30% of the vote could mean your candidacy is taken seriously. The author Marianne Williamson is also in the running.
There was also a campaign to ask voters to write “ceasefire” when voting to protest Biden's support for Israel in its conflict with the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
New Hampshire's Democratic primary got even weirder over the weekend when the state's residents received a call saying they shouldn't vote this Tuesday because only the vote in November when the general election takes place matters.
The voice was apparently that of Joe Biden, and prosecutors suspect it was generated by artificial intelligence. The case is under investigation.
The calls also showed the originating number as the personal cellphone of Kathy Sullivan, who once led Democrats in the state and is now working with the campaign to handwrite Biden's name. She was the one who alerted authorities to the calls.
“This call is being linked to my personal cell phone number without my consent,” she said in a statement. “It is blatant election interference and clearly an attempt to bully me and other voters in New Hampshire who plan to vote for Joe Biden on Tuesday.”
The use of artificial intelligence in this year's election campaign is a cause for concern for authorities, who fear socalled “deep fakes,” which can be images, videos or even voices generated by robots simulating candidates to deceive voters.