New Hampshire Primary

‘The calm before the storm': Officials prepare for New Hampshire primary

Polls open Tuesday morning and the results will give a country a sense of who will be vying for the White House come Nov. 5. The results are expected by 11 p.m. Tuesday

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Donald Trump and Nikki Haley were both getting in from of voters tonight making their final pitch before Granite Staters head to the polls on Tuesday. Election workers will be ready for them.

The ballots are stocked, the volunteers in place. It’s crunch time for  New Hampshire and Secretary of State David Scanlan says they’re locked in and ready to go.

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“Right now it feels like the calm before the storm,” Scanlan said Monday.

Polls open Tuesday morning and the results will give a country a sense of who will be vying for the White House come Nov. 5. The results are expected by 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Ron DeSantis has dropped out, leaving just Donald Trump and Nikki Haley in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.

The state of the Democrats...

President Joe Biden won’t be on the ballot.

“The aggressive write-in campaign that's taking place to write his name in. How much enthusiasm has that created? Will the voters respond to that by turning out?” Scanlan said.

Biden turned away from New Hampshire after a failed attempt in 2023 to move South Carolina higher in the primary process.

The call that went out to voters in New Hampshire raises concerns about voter suppression and how AI-generated deepfakes could affect our elections.

“The polls suggest he'll have an easy win, even with a write-in campaign,” Political analyst Scott Spradling said.

But his absence has allowed challengers to claim a portion of the spotlight.

“Dean Phillips if he has a better than average finish he could start a conversation with Democrats throughout the country about where they're at,” Spradling added.

Former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley spoke in New Hampshire on the eve of the first-in-the-nation primary.

On the GOP side...

Polling shows Donald Trump still firmly in first place, while Nikki Haley is trying to prove that the nomination isn’t a foregone conclusion.

“Nikki Haley can have a close second place but it's gotta be low single digits,” Spradling said.

Supporters and curious voters came not just from New Hampshire but surrounding states to hear what Nikki Haley had to say ahead of the primary as she trails behind Donald Trump in the polls. Follow NBC10 Boston on... Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston X: twitter.com/NBC10Boston

More on write-in candidates and write-in votes

About half of New Hampshire uses machines to count votes, while the other half counts by hand. Scanlan says the write-in votes for Biden will all need to be hand counted, so that will come easy for some areas, while others will have a challenge.

There is also a possibility that voters who believed they were undeclared may show up and find that they are actually registered with one of the big parties. State officials say if that happens, it’s possible Haley may get a sizable number of write-in votes for Democrats. It’s also possible Democrats may write-in other big names who did not file.

Also underway is an effort to have voters write in “ceasefire” as a form of protest vote. Scanlan said he expects officials will keep track of those votes. More obscure write-in options can be counted under a category called “scatter.”

NBC10 Boston Political Commentator Sue O'Connell looks at where the DeSantis campaign went wrong, how his endorsement of Trump could affect New Hampshire, and more.
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