Biden supporters urge NH voters to embrace unusual write-in campaign

Tallying the results on primary night in New Hampshire might not go as quickly as in years past, with thousands of write-in votes expected to be cast for President Joe Biden in the Democratic contest — all of which will need to be hand counted.

But New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan reassured WMUR's Adam Sexton that he doesn't expect significant delays.

«I would expect that the results are going to be coming in before the night is over. And I don't expect there's gonna be a huge delay in those results because there's a major write-in campaign,» he said in an interview with Sexton on Sunday.

Currently, the New Hampshire secretary of state is having «internal discussions» on whether all Jan. 23 primary results will be released at the same time or if Republican results might go first due to delays on the Democratic side, given the expected volume of Biden write-in ballots, Scanlan told WMUR.

Scanlan's office has asked for more volunteers to help out at voting sites, he said.

He indicated that an incumbent president running in a primary race usually results in low turnout, but it's unknown how Biden's unofficial write-in campaign will affect how many people cast ballots on Jan. 23.

In the Republican race, meanwhile, Scanlan said he anticipates «fairly large» turnout.

The latter race — in which former President Donald Trump is running against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others — will be the second time voters get to make their voices heard in the Republican primary, after the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15.

Trump maintains a large lead in most primary polling, but in independent-leaning New Hampshire, Haley is a much closer No. 2.

The Democratic primary