Early Primary Would Overspend Budget

The Town of Hampton is going to find itself in a small financial hole should the State of New Hampshire move its presidential primary to December to prevent Nevada from the "first in the nation" status.

Town Manager Fred Welch said Hampton didn't include funding for a primary in its 2011 budget, which goes through the end of December. He said that means the budget line used to fund elections will "run over" and create a small budget shortfall somewhere, which will take away from other services.

Even though the cost for a December primary — somewhere between several thousand to $10,000 — would be small compared to the rest of the overall budget, Welch said the situation is still "frustrating" because it creates financial management issues that the town will just have to sit back and "take."

"We will have to underspend something else in order to appropriate money for this election," said Welch. "We're already planning on overspending it. We have no choice. There's a bottom line to the town budget that we can't cross, and that means something else must be underspent, and we have to see that that money is not spent on something else so we can fund a December primary."

The primary issue has drawn national attention, and Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman is even Nevada due to their proposal.

While the primary leapfrogging has different repercussions across the state, Welch said the problem isn't the fault of the State of the New Hampshire or , whom he said is "being held captive" by states like Nevada and Florida.

"I can't help it if they all want to be New Hampshire," said Welch. "That's not my problem. I just don't understand why they're doing this. The system has been set up this way for decades, and they apparently want to change it.

"They want to be first, or they want to be second instead of fifth or sixth. In my opinion, that's better than 50th. I don't get where they're going."

Hampton is one of several Granite State municipalities facing possible budget problems due to the change, although not all communities will have shortfalls.

North Hampton, for instance, has a fiscal year budget that outlines appropriations for July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012.

North Hampton Town Administrator Steve Fournier said that budget already contains a line item for a primary, which means is makes little financial difference to them whether the election is in December or held on its normal day in March.

That doesn't mean North Hampton officials aren't against the change, however.

Fournier said December is a "busy time of year" and he said having only two months to "figure out where there election will be held, line up election workers, make sure police are there to provide protection and make sure [voting] equipment is available" would make the primary difficult.

"It's just not enough time to make sure we have everything correct and ready," he said. "We just want an answer so we can plan for it."

Fournier said moving primaries ahead of schedule also has other repercussions, as the door could be open for other states to move theirs, creating a perpetual cycle which could make elections difficult for everyone involved.

"I think it's time everybody sits down and comes up with a truly meaningful process that gives voters, the candidates and all towns enough time to plan," said Fournier.

Welch agreed, stating that the Democratic and Republican nationals committees need to "enforce their own rules" and maintain a rigid primary schedule.

"If they don't, this becomes a shooting gallery every year," said Welch.

Welch said Hampton will have the finances to fund a 2011 primary should one be scheduled, even though the money is not appropriated. One possible way is through utilizing the anticipated year-end surplus.

The town has already committed to , though, and Welch said it still isn't possible to predict if there will actually be a surplus because a major problem could require the town to dip into the operating budget by that time.

"There's no way of knowing how much will be left at the end of the year, whether it's $57 or $5,000," he said. "We'll have to spend this money... because we don't want citizens to be denied the right to vote for any reason."