The tenants of the White House have a big advantage over the other candidates when it comes to winning the primaries. Even Joe Biden, one of the least popular presidents, easily won the New Hampshire primary, where he came fifth in 2020. He also did this without getting off the bus: without attending a single campaign event and without even appearing on the ballot. The American media forecasts show him as the winner, although the test still has a long way to go.
Biden is not disqualified nor has his eligibility been questioned, as was the case with Donald Trump in Colorado and Maine because of his role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The president simply missed the registration deadlines due to a brawl by the Democratic Party to move the vote in New Hampshire back to the primary calendar.
Although his name was not pre-printed on the ballot papers, citizens could vote for him by writing their name in the blank space provided. Biden has not campaigned in the state, but his allies have worked to make it clear to voters how they can do so. The counting of the Democratic primaries is somewhat complicated in this type of election because the machines do not recognize the name, only that the vote goes to another candidate and has to be processed manually.
“I am here to show my support for Joe Biden and encourage my friends and neighbors to vote for him,” said Colin Van Ostern, a 44-year-old technology executive and prominent Democratic activist, this Tuesday at the door of a polling station in Concord, the state capital. “He is not on the ballot because of a political dispute within the party, but I will not let the party bureaucrats decide who I vote for, whether I vote for him or not. “Joe Biden is the only one who defeated Donald Trump and will do it again,” he added.
While Donald Trump and Nikki Haley visited polling stations in New Hampshire and held parties there to monitor the election results, Biden held a rally in Manassas, Virginia, where abortion rights was the central theme. Democrats view abortion as one of the issues that most mobilize their voters.
In 2020, Biden won the Democratic nomination despite coming in fifth place in New Hampshire with just 8.4% of the vote. Then last year as president, Biden pushed for a change to the Democratic Party's primary election calendar. He called on the Democratic National Committee to change the order and remove the starting ballot from the Iowa caucuses (a white, conservative and religious state) and give it to the South Carolina caucuses. The goal was to give more power to black and other minority voters, which is crucial to the party's base.
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In February, the Democratic Party approved a new schedule that began with the South Carolina primary on February 3, followed three days later by the New Hampshire and Nevada primaries. Iowa disciplinedly agreed not to vote in the Democratic primary last week, but New Hampshire rebelled. State law gives New Hampshire's Republican Secretary of State David Scanlan exclusive authority to set the 2024 primary election date. As has been the case for 40 years, he set it for the Tuesday of the week after the Iowa caucus. The rule also specifies that the primary election must be held at least seven days before all other primaries. The ensuing dispute left Biden unable to take part in the vote and the winner unable to secure delegates to the convention that nominates the president.
Twenty-one names appeared on the Democratic ballot, including one president, not by office but by name: President R. Boddie. Also featured is Vermin Supreme, an eccentric activist known for wearing a rubber boot on his head as a hat. Of all of them, the only ones with any political clout were Congressman Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson, who tried it in 2020 but withdrew before voting began.
Voter turnout in the Democratic primaries was much lower than in the Republican primaries, largely because they were not perceived as competition. Biden's victory was taken for granted even without his name appearing on the ballot. Congressman Dean Phillips attracted more and more spectators to his events, but they were still in the minority.
The conclusion of the campaign was marked by false calls in which a voice apparently generated by artificial intelligence impersonated Joe Biden, discouraging people from voting now and urging them to reserve voting for the November presidential election. The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office announced Monday it was opening an investigation. These types of deepfakes threaten to become a problem in future elections.
“These messages appear to be an illegal attempt to disrupt New Hampshire’s presidential election and voter suppression,” prosecutors said in a statement. “New Hampshire voters should completely ignore the contents of this message. “Voting in the New Hampshire presidential primary does not prevent a voter from also voting in the November general election,” he added.
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