By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – A steady stream of presidential candidates and/or their representatives will begin to visit the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office in the State House Wednesday to officially file their names to be placed on the first-in-the nation primary ballot here.
Secretary of State David Scanlan set the filing dates for the New Hampshire Primary as Oct. 11-27 but has yet to set the actual election date. It is likely to be some time in January.
Anna Sventek, communications director for the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, said Tuesday the filings will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday with John Castro.
Castro is a Texas tax advisor who filed suit to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot in a number of states. He will be followed at 9 a.m. by a candidate named Mark Stuart, she said.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is expected to come in to fill out the necessary paperwork.
On Thursday, three candidates are expected beginning at 9:30 a.m. with former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
In the afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be expected and at 3:30 p.m., the lone Democrat so far on the list, self-help author Marianne Williamson, will file.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is due on Friday at 8:45 a.m. and will be followed by former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at 10 a.m.
On Monday, Oct. 16 biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will file at 1 p.m., although it appears he may reschedule until the 18th.
On Thursday, Oct. 19, former two-term New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected and on Oct. 23 former President Donald Trump is due to file with no time specified yet by either candidate.
Chris Ager who is chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party predicted the Secretary of State’s office could be particularly busy with Republican Presidential candidates on Oct. 12 and 13 as about 11 of the 13 candidates have confirmed to participate in an event in New Hampshire.
Candidates make appointments, and provided they are at least 35 years of age, a natural-born United States Citizen, have lived in the country at least 14 years and pay $1,000 can be placed on the ballot.
If they cannot afford the $1,000 fee, Scanlan said they can collect 10 signatures from each of the 10 counties to get on the ballot.
“Anyone who had the fourth-grade dream of growing up to be president of the United States can try and make it happen in New Hampshire,” Scanlan said at a press conference in September when announcing the open filing period.
There are a number of other candidates running for president, including the incumbent Democrat Joe Biden.
Democrats have conceded that Biden is not likely on the primary ballot in New Hampshire after two years of battling it out with the party over dates, with the party favoring South Carolina to go ahead of New Hampshire.
Yet to schedule a filing appointment but indicating their candidacies for president are South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, conservative talk show host Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., green party candidate Cornel West and Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley.