Small town New Hampshire prepares for midnight voting

Under New Hampshire state law, communities with fewer than 100 voters can get permission to open their polls at midnight and close them as soon as all registered voters have cast their ballots.

The Ohio governor was also the top Republican vote-getter in Hart’s Location, another small community that joined in the midnight voting.

Observers will be tracking various storylines as New Hampshire’s results come in tonight, from whether Trump emerges the victor he thought he would be in Iowa, to whether Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attract enough votes to justify continuing their campaigns, to how close Clinton can come to Sanders, who’s expected to win New Hampshire’s Democratic vote easily.

Nearby towns Hart’s Location and Millsfield also returned results early Tuesday after their midnight primaries. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (TX) was the clear victor, with nine votes.

In the Republican race, Cruz was the pick in Millsfield, with 9 votes, followed by Trump, with 3 votes. Cruz and Trump, Sanders and Clinton tied the others.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump has a huge lead in the polls.

The rest of the state’s polls started opening at 6 A.M. Nine voters cast their ballot last night, and you were there.

For the 2012 election, 44 presidential candidates from 26 states got on New Hampshire’s ballot. Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republicans Carly Fiorina and Chomi Prag are the only female candidates.

Much like the evangelicals and liberals that took part in last week’s Iowa caucuses, there is a bloc of voters poised to play an influential role in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary: independents.

One man, Neil Tillotson, (who has a freakish and fascinating Wikipedia page) had the ceremonial honor of casting the first ballot, which he would do by holding his slip above the ballot box with one hand, checking his watch on the other hand, and dropping his vote in at the exact stroke of midnight. “Being able to vote at midnight, being able to be the first people voting for a new president, I think that still represents the ideal version of democracy”.

Kasich is seen as an underdog in the New Hampshire primary, but voters in Dixville Notch said they were impressed he took the time to call them individually.

Right now, 46% of undeclared voters have made a decision to participate in the Republican primary compared to 40% in the Democratic, according to a WBUR/MassINC poll.

Security is pictured at a pre-election rally, hosted by Donald Trump, in Manchester, New Hampshire, February 8, 2016.

Kasich and Bush registered at 10 percent and 7 percent respectively. Clinton prevailed among Democrats, two votes to one.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton’s camp is denying reports she’s looking to shake up her campaign team after a what could be a lackluster performance in the Granite State.