The information below has been updated to reflect the 50% penalty. The penalty reduces the delegate count to 12 and removes voting privileges from the party leader delegates.

Tuesday 10 January 2012: 20 of 23 of 12 New Hampshire's delegates to the Republican National Convention are bound to presidential contenders based on the results of the voting in today's New Hampshire Primary.

• 20 12 National Convention delegates are to be bound proportionally to presidential contenders based on the primary vote statewide [RSA 659:93].
• A 10% threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates.
• Allocate delegates based on the 20 12 × candidate's vote ÷ total statewide vote. Round any fractional allocation to the nearest whole number of delegates.
• Any delegate positions that remain open (as a result of threshold or rounding) are awarded to the candidate with the highest statewide vote total.

Prior to the primary, each Presidential candidate submits a list of delegate candidates to the New Hampshire Secretary of State. After the primary, the Secretary of State notifies each Presidential candidate indicating the number of delegates he/she has won. Each candidate has 10 days to designate which delegate candidates will become National Convention delegates [659.93].

Each presidential candidate ... shall file with the secretary of state ... the names and addresses ... of the delegates ... who shall represent the candidate as his or her delegation to the national convention. [RSA 655:50]

If a presidential candidate has received a share of the delegates as a result of the presidential primary but withdraws as a presidential candidate at any time prior to the convention, his pledged delegates shall be released by the candidate and each delegate is free to support any candidate of his political party who may be his choice as a candidate for president. [RSA 659:93 VI]

"...I pledge myself, if selected as delegate or alternate delegate to said convention, whenever I shall vote, to vote for the nomination of ________________________ as candidate for said party for president so long as he shall be a candidate before said convention." [Certificate of Delegate/Alternate Delegate Selected for the National Convention]

In addition, the 3 party leader delegates, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the New Hampshire's Republican Party, will attend the convention as unpledged non-voting delegates by virtue of their position.

National Committeeman and Committeewoman [Bylaws of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, Article III]

• The National Committeeman and Committeewoman shall be elected by a majority vote of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee at the Republican State Committee meeting immediately prior to the Republican National Convention.
• The National Committeeman and Committeewoman shall have the same responsibility along with the Chairman to represent New Hampshire’s interest on the National Committee and to work to preserve our first in the nation primary. During all Presidential and State Primaries the Committeeman and Committeewoman must remain strictly neutral and may not publicly or privately support, assist or endorse any one candidate over another.

Here's how we compute the delegate count:

1. For those candidates receiving 10% or more of the vote: The number of delegates = 12 × (candidate's popular vote) ÷ (total statewide vote) rounded to the nearest whole number.
2. Assign any remaining delegates to the candidate receiving the most votes.

This is what the delegate count would have been had New Hampshire not been sanctioned:

Notes:

Why New Hampshire's Primary Tradition Is Important
By William Gardner, New Hampshire Secretary of State
October 12, 2011

"If Nevada does not accept a date of Tuesday, January 17th or later for its caucus, it leaves New Hampshire no choice but to consider December of this year. The dates of Tuesday, December 13th and Tuesday, December 6th are realistic options ... "

On 2 November 2011, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner announced that New Hampshire will hold its Presidential Primary on Tuesday 10 January 2012.

The January date appears to put the New Hampshire's Republican delegate selection plan in violation of the Rules of the Republican Party. Rule 15(b)(1) states

"No primary, caucus, or convention to elect, select, allocate, or bind delegates to the national convention shall occur prior to the first Tuesday in March in the year in which a national convention is held. Except Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada may begin their processes at any time on or after February 1 in the year in which a national convention is held ..."

Rule 16(a) indicates that New Hampshire will forfeit 50% of their National Convention delegates.

"If any state or state Republican Party violates The Rules of the Republican Party relating to the timing ... the number of delegates to the national convention from that state shall be reduced by fifty percent (50%) ... "

Date of Presidential Primary [RSA 653:9]:

• The presidential primary election shall be held on the second Tuesday in March or on a date selected by the secretary of state which is 7 days or more immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election, whichever is earlier, of each year when a president of the United States is to be elected or the year previous.