ORGANIZING FOR 2018 (AND BEYOND?) The progressive nonprofit voting rights group Let America Vote – headed by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander – intends to open field offices in five key states in 2018.The group tells WMUR’s New Hampshire Primary Source exclusively that it hopes to build on what it views as a successful grassroots effort launched earlier this summer in Virginia. It says it will open offices in New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, Georgia and Tennessee in plenty of time to organize for the 2018 mid-term elections.And with Kander doing nothing to quell speculation that he may be eyeing a presidential run in 2020, it’s noteworthy that three early-voting primary and caucus states (two of which are also general election swing states) are included.Kander, by the way, will make his third visit to New Hampshire since early June on Monday, planning to attend the Amherst Democrats’ Labor Day Barbecue at the Amherst Country Club.During his most recent visit on July 6, Kander delivered to Gov. Chris Sununu’s office petitions opposing a new Republican law that tightens voting and registration requirements in New Hampshire. In June, he was the featured speaker at the Manchester Democratic Committee’s annual Flag Day event.Kander told WMUR in June that speculation about a presidential bid is “flattering,” but said he is focusing on voting rights.Kander said he founded Let America Vote in February in response to what he views as Republican efforts nationwide to suppress voting. He said the group was also formed to counter President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that voter fraud in several states – including New Hampshire – was a factor in his loss in the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election.Kander has said that Let America Vote is focusing on creating “political consequences for politicians who try to roll back voting or failed to stand up for voting rights.”“We’re opening these offices as a direct response to efforts by politicians to make voting harder and their re-election campaigns easier," Kander said. "Politicians in each of the five states will have to answer for their actions on election day, and politicians around the country will think twice before trying to change the mechanics of our elections for political gain.”The former Army captain narrowly lost his own 2016 bid for the U.S. Senate in his home state to Republican incumbent Roy Blount. He was perhaps most well-known for a television ad that showed him assembling a rifle blindfolded, which he said made him uniquely qualified to promote gun control.In New Hampshire, Let America Vote supported Democratic state Rep. Edie DesMarais of Wolfeboro with digital ads in her successful special election campaign in May. It also supported newly elected state Sen. Kevin Cavanaugh of Manchester, who upset former Sen. David Boutin in a July contest.The group said it chose the five states for office openings based on “competitive statewide elections, recent voter suppression efforts and potential to change the voting rights landscape.”It describes the recently-enacted Senate Bill 3 in the Granite State as “a new law disenfranchising college students in New Hampshire.”The group says the offices “will follow the model the organization started in Virginia this year, where Let America Vote has knocked on over 130,000 doors in just over two months out of a field office in Manassas to support Ralph Northam’s campaign for governor and state legislative races.”It says that in New Hampshire, it will focus on the governor’s race and “targeted legislative races.”