Recent decisions by the N.H. Supreme Court and the Democratic National Committee have introduced some unexpected variables into the state’s primary plans.

The state Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 17 to overturn a 1979 law that required the political party with the most votes during the last election to be placed first on the ballot during the next election. The last time any party other than the Republican Party appeared first on a ballot in New Hampshire was 1966.

The Democratic Party says research shows that when choices are presented visually as on a ballot or survey, and respondents have no meaningful information, or conflicted information, about their choices, they tend to select the first choice. Secretary of State William Gardner testified that he had told a Senate public affairs committee that this effect can give candidates as much as a 6 to 10 percent advantage when they’re listed first on a ballot as long as 10 candidates.

A lower court will determine a new system for the state, which will probably be based on a random order. As of press time it was unclear whether the ballots would have to be altered for the Sept. 12 primary. Those ballots have already been printed, and some are already being used by absentee voters.

To read the full opinion, visit www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/ opinions/2006/index.htm.

At the federal level, the Democratic National Committee voted on Aug. 19 to put the Nevada presidential primary ahead of New Hampshire. Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who sets the date for the primary, says he remains mandated by state law to place New Hampshire’s primary a week before any similar contest.

In the new DNC schedule, in 2008 Iowa’s caucus will be followed by Nevada’s primary, then New Hampshire’s, then South Carolina’s. The Democrats say the change will give minority voters a bigger say in picking a presidential candidate.

The plan threatens the longstanding tradition of candidates meeting with voters one-on-one in the Granite State and exacerbates the problem of frontloading, according to critics, who say candidates will be forced to spend more time on airplanes than with voters.

Would-be candidates, however, continue to troop to New Hampshire. Recent visitors included former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, as well as former New Jersey Governor and EPA administrator Christy Whitman, who was stumping on behalf of Republican candidates in the mid-term elections.