Follia Flores lives in New Hampshire.

And during every presidential election,

she's gotten to enjoy the perks of being a New Hampshire voter.

For the last century, the state has always had the country's first primary.

So voters like her get unique access to presidential hopefuls.

You actually get to know them and they get to know you. You can meet up with a candidate and a diner and a grocery store and, you know, in a park, they do events all over they do their town halls.

Do you have any memories like if you had any close encounters with any politicians

over the years? Oh my goodness I've had close encounters with everyone.

I remember meeting Senator Barack Obama and that was a great experience.

Introduced him to my niece who was,

she was gonna be voting in her first election that year

and he won her over right there right on the spot.

But this year things look a lot different for Democratic voters in New Hampshire. The Democratic Party decided it wanted

South Carolina to vote first. New Hampshire is defying that decision and as a result

New Hampshire's primary isn't going to count towards the nomination.

I was, you know, just disappointed in how they handled New Hampshire and saying, okay, well, you know, your delegates are not all your delegates are going to count and, you know, kind of putting their thumb on the scale.

And New Hampshire is just one example. This year there are several states with

equally confusing primaries in both the Democratic and Republican races.

All of which is to say, 2024 is off to a messy start.

Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Ryan Knutzen. It's Monday. about money, business, and power.

I'm Ryan Knutzen.

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