How a dustup between Joe Biden and New Hampshire Democrats kept him off the primary ballot

CONCORD, N.H. – Democrats who want to cast a ballot for President Joe Biden in the New Hampshire primary will have to write his name in on Tuesday.

Biden is seeking a second term as president, but he is not competing in New Hampshire. The state is holding its contest earlier than this year’s Democratic primary calendar allows, and candidates who appear on the ballot here will not be eligible to accrue delegates to the national convention.

His absence from the ballot in the first-in-the nation primary state stems from an argument between New Hampshire and national Democrats over which contest will lead the nominating process.

At Biden's request, the Democratic National Committee made South Carolina the first primary of 2024, replacing Iowa as the first contest in the party’s presidential selection process. It ordered New Hampshire to go second and on the same day as Nevada.

New Hampshire law mandates it hold the first primary, and legislators in the Republican-run state refused to break with tradition. The state’s attorney general is accusing the DNC of voter suppression and sent the organization a cease-and-desist letter last week that threatened further legal action.

Biden is unable to campaign in the state without coming under penalty from the national party. That has not stopped his administration from sending Cabinet members to New Hampshire in recent weeks to attend official administration events alongside the state’s federal delegation.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who came in second in the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary, have all held events this month in New Hampshire. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai was here in December.

A group of volunteers who are unaffiliated with Biden’s reelection campaign have also launched a grassroots write-in effort to keep the sitting president from losing the New Hampshire primary.

Self-help author Marianne Williamson and Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips are challenging Biden. They are participating in the unsanctioned competition on Jan. 23 that will not count toward winning the nomination and have opted to appear on the Democratic ballot.

Biden tends to draw support in New Hampshire from voters over the age of 50. Voters under the age of 30 were his weakest age group in an Emerson College poll that was published last week.

Organizers of the write-in effort have begun to lower expectations for Biden’s performance in next week’s contest. Although most Democratic voters say in surveys that they support Biden, they will have to proactively put his name down in New Hampshire for the president to emerge victorious.

“Write-in campaigns are very difficult and Joe Biden’s vote total on January 23 will understate his actual support among New Hampshire Democrats and Independents,” the group said in a Jan. 16 memo.

Former President Barack Obama, who did appear on the ballot, won his 2012 primary with 49,080 votes.

Biden is expected to have far less support in the state where unaffiliated voters can cast ballots in either party’s primary. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is vying for the support of independents in her bid to defeat former President Donald Trump in the Republican contest. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also competing in New Hampshire.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Joe Biden won't be on New Hampshire's primary ballot Tuesday