The Democratic National Committee (DNC) received a cease-and-desist order from New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella’s office in response to alleged violations of the state’s voter suppression laws.
On January 5, the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee submitted a letter to the New Hampshire Democratic Party (NHDP) ordering it to comply with DNC guidance to “take steps to educate the public that January 23rd” — New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary — “is a non-binding presidential preference event and is meaningless and the NHDP and presidential candidates should take all steps possible not to participate.”
“Regardless of whether the DNC refuses to award delegates to the party’s national convention based on the results of the January 23, 2024, New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary Election, that election is not ‘meaningless.’ Your statements to the contrary are false, deceptive, and misleading,” Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell wrote in the cease-and-desist letter.
“Telling the public or any person qualified to register to vote or vote in New Hampshire that the [aforementioned election] is ‘meaningless,’ or soliciting NHDP or any other party to make such statements, constitutes an attempt to prevent or deter another person from voting or registering to vote based on fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, or spurious grounds or information,” O’Donnell continued.
The DNC’s demands are designed to bolster the revised primary calendar it released last year, which put South Carolina’s primary before New Hampshire’s, a decision made ostensibly to give minority voters greater representation in the primary process, but which many observers note also gives Biden an advantage.
