New Hampshire’s Secretary of State William Gardner has the power to move the state’s primary. With a date still waiting to be determined, Gardner said he is keeping an eye on Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan, according to the Associated Press.

Michigan’s primary move caused some issues for Democrats by violating the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, rules.

“What the DNC said was that any state that tried to get ahead would be punished,” said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. “They simply said we will set up a schedule that we want all the Democratic states to adhere to. Iowa and New Hampshire next, then Nevada and South Carolina and those four states in order can come before Feb. 5.”

However, since then, Florida and Michigan have violated the DNC rules by upping their primary dates on the calendar. The situation has led to Democratic presidential candidates pledging not to campaign in the state.

Candidates Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden, John Edwards and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have chosen to take their names off the Michigan ballot.

On Friday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm officially endorsed Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, who chose to remain on the state’s ballot.

“As long as (Hillary Clinton) is on the ballot, Michigan will still have a primary,” Ballenger said. “Both Democrats and Republicans have to agree by Nov. 14 that they’re not going to hold a primary on Jan. 15 …. but both would have to agree, not just one.”

The chances of that happening are slim, Ballenger said. For now, Democrats will stay with the new primary date.

“We haven’t heard anything different,” said Greg Bird, spokesman for state House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford. “At this point, yes, we’re staying at the Jan. 15 date.”

Republican presidential hopefuls have already displayed an interest in Michigan and acknowledged the new primary date. Candidates have officially visited the state twice since September.

“Our candidates — Republican candidates are coming — it’s Democratic candidates that are having issues,” said Matt Marsden, spokesman for state Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. “We’ve already had Republican candidates here. This is for the Democrats to figure out what they are doing with their primary. We’re moving ahead with ours on Jan. 15.”

With little supervision over how states choose primaries, there has been some expectation that dates could be scheduled as early as December.

“People have said all along that can happen and I’m one of them,” Ballenger said. “At this point it’s so late, we’re in October now, so it’s very unlikely anyone will go in December. If the system, which is clearly broken, keeps deteriorating every election cycle, by 2012 we could see a December and November primary, but not this year.”