CONCORD, N.H. – With Election Day just 12 days away, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley expressed confidence over his party’s prospects as well as high voter turnout.
Buckley said New Hampshire Democrats will have a focus over the last few days of the campaign on helping as many New Hampshire residents as possible understand rules when it comes to voting. He also criticized President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for their false statements indicating that New Hampshire residents could not register on Election Day as well as their request to reject absentee voting by college students, which was rejected by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
“The reality is simple: if you are a U.S. citizen and will be 18 years old by Election Day and live in New Hampshire, you can vote here and you can register on Election Day, period,” he said.
The Democratic Party is providing information for New Hampshire residents at www.voteinh.org, with the New Hampshire Secretary of State doing the same on their website.
Buckley added that while New Hampshire is known for having election results quickly on Election Night and that most results will be available quickly this year as well, he also hopes that Granite Staters can express patience given difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as what he believes will be record-setting turnout.
Buckley said he believes New Hampshire is still a swing state and that Democrats or Republicans can be competitive in any race in the state, but says others are slowly beginning to see New Hampshire as a non-competitive state at the Presidential level. He also stated that he believes Democrats could potentially obtain a supermajority in the New Hampshire State Legislature, win all five Executive Council seats and do well at other levels as well based on data the party has received from approximately 3.3 million voter contacts since July and a 45,000 gap in between newly registered Democrats and Republicans since 2018.
Beyond Election Day, he did not explicitly endorse the idea of removing the Electoral College, stating that removing the Electoral College would require new mechanisms across the country and at the federal level to ensure a fair Presidential Election. However, he also challenged Republicans who have said the removal of the Electoral College would be an assault on New Hampshire’s Presidential Primary.
“We’re not going to be the center of attention as New Hampshire continues to become bluer,” he said. “It’s just bizarre, there’s no connection between the Electoral College and the First in the Nation Primary.”
