Beyond The Dome: Biden missing from ballot

By: Sydney Umstead, News Editor

The New Hampshire Democratic primary took place on Jan. 23, and people were quick to notice that President Joe Biden’s name was missing from the Democratic primary ballot. 

Even though attendees could not check off Joe Biden’s name on the ballot, they still had the option to write-in a vote for the current president. 

The Guardian stated that the missing name was a consequence of “an internal Democratic party feud.” As The Guardian put it, candidates Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson could have potentially benefited from Biden’s name being absent, and this “opened a window” of opportunity during the event. 

However, the final polling concluded that through write-in votes for Joe Biden, the president won the primary by 60.9% of votes. 

Biden’s decision to not appear on the ballot stemmed from “New Hampshire refus[ing] to comply with the Democratic National Committee’s new calendar, which made South Carolina the first presidential nominating state,” The New York Times wrote. 

Following this, Biden is set to begin campaigning in South Carolina, which was supposed to be the new first state in the primary, as chosen by Biden himself and the Democratic National Committee. 

South Carolina being chosen as the new first primary state, stems from ideas to impact the ways in which the Democratic party selects its nominees. 

The calls for a new calendar were influenced by a lack of racial diversity in the previous early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Furthermore, The New York Times stated the decision also follows “Iowa’s 2020 meltdown.” During the caucus in 2020, there were a series of technical issues and a new app that ran attendees rampant. 

The new calendar has caused controversy during the primary season, as those in opposition of it have reached out and expressed their concerns. There is also speculation about whether or not President Biden’s win in New Hampshire will be counted by the Democratic National Committee. 

Prior to the primary, the Committee “sent a letter to local Democrats actively trying to discourage voting, saying that the votes would be meaningless, and no delegates would be apportioned based on Tuesday's primary,” according to WMUR 9.