Lawmaker Proposes Closing N.H.’s Primaries, Cites Potential For Electoral Sabotage

The way Rep. Norman Silber sees it, a party primary is supposed to select the best person who represents the values and platform of that particular political party – and allowing undeclared voters to weigh in allows for too much electoral mischief. “It’s not unheard of that some true members of a party who happen to be registered as undeclared choose to vote in the other party’s primary to try to get the worst candidate or at least the one notionally easiest to beat for the general election,” Silber, a Republican from Gilford, told his colleagues at a House Election Law Committee hearing Tuesday morning.