Trump misleadingly claims Democrats voting in New Hampshire Republican primary

"You have to get the Democrats to stop voting in a Republican primary," Trump said in Laconia, New Hampshire, on January 22, 2024, the night before polls opened in the northeastern state. "Democrats are not supposed to be voting in Republican primaries."

The line has become a go-to for Trump as he squares off against former South Carolina governor Haley, who he claims is courting such voters in the January 23 primary.

The former president told rallygoers in Rochester, New Hampshire, on January 21 that Democrats "already got 5,000 signed up."

He said in Manchester one day earlier that the state's governor, Republican Chris Sununu, "allows Democrats to vote in the Republican primary."

Trump repeated similar claims during stops in Concord, Portsmouth and Atkinson, as well as on Sean Hannity's Fox News show.

"Nikki Haley is counting on Democrats and liberals to infiltrate your Republican primary," Trump said January 17 in Portsmouth.

His claims have reverberated in social media posts on platforms such as Facebook and X, formerly Twitter. But they are misleading.

While undeclared voters -- also called independents -- can cast their ballots in either the Democratic or Republican primary, registered Democrats are not allowed to vote in the GOP contest, according to office of the New Hampshire secretary of state (archived here). And the deadline for voters to change their registration passed months earlier.

"You had to be registered with the party by the registration deadline for this election, which was October 6, 2023," said Tammy Patrick of the National Association of Election Officials. "Anyone who changed their party after that deadline is not eligible."

Similar systems exist in states such as Arizona, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while other states have different rules (archived here). 

New Hampshire's rules were the same in 2016, when Trump won the state's Republican primary.

Haley, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, clapped back at her former boss after he posted on Truth Social that Sununu "should spend more time keeping Democrats from voting in the Republican primary."

"Another reason we need to move on from Trump: too many lies," she said January 19 on X.

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A voter leaves a voting booth at The Barn at Bull Meadow in Concord, New Hampshire during voting for the New Hampshire Primary on January 23, 2024 (AFP / TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

Crossover voting

While registered Democrats are barred from participating in New Hampshire's Republican primary contest, voters who told pollsters they were Democrats but registered as undeclared before the October deadline could still ask for a GOP ballot.

"Individuals registered as Democrats cannot vote in the GOP primary," said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. "But a person who thinks of herself as a Democrat or who usually votes Democratic in general elections can participate if her registration status is that of an independent."

The practice, called crossover voting, has a long history in politics -- and may have been what Trump was referring to when he said Democrats had "5,000 signed up."

Local and national media reported that 3,542 New Hampshire residents previously registered as Democrats changed their affiliation to undeclared before October's deadline (archived here and here).

An additional 408 Democrats reportedly updated their registration to Republican, while 719 people switched from Republican to undeclared and 78 from Republican to Democratic.

Voters sometimes "cross over" during primary elections when they want a say but live in an area dominated by the opposing party, Bullock said. People may also choose to participate in the other party's primary if they genuinely prefer a candidate running in it.

There have also been coordinated efforts to undermine a party or candidate.

In 2008, for example, the late conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh urged his listeners to vote for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, an effort he called "Operation Chaos."

In January 2024, the Daily Mail interviewed some New Hampshire voters (archived here) who switched to undeclared before the deadline in hopes of boosting Haley over Trump, who is facing several criminal investigations.

AFP has fact-checked other false and misleading claims about the 2024 election here.