OK, on a whim across the White Mts., I'm about to attend & report on the 12:01 am voting in New Hampshire. I'm in North Conway right now, Clark's got a meet & greet here at 8:30 that I'll attend. Then it's off to Hart's Location. Not for the General though, he's going up to Dixville Notch (where most of the press will probably follow) for the
midnight voting:
The tradition of having everyone vote at midnight and closing the polls a few minutes later actually began in Hart's Location in 1948, when nearly everyone worked for the railroad and had to be at work before the polls opened. After the tradition languished there, the media attention moved to Dixville Notch. Hart's Location revived its early morning voting in 1996, but the Dixville voters didn't mind too much.
The thing about Dixville Notch though, is that there are no registered Democrats (small problem); however, the town's 11 undeclared voters are eligible to vote in the Democratic primary. Given that independents are part of Clark's greatest pull here in Northern NH, he's probably got it locked up (kind of a bummer for him if he showed up and lost, I'd think). So, seeking out early Democratic voters, I'll soon be heading up Route 302 to the Notchland Inn to witness the voting. Hopefully, I'll be able to break the results on the web with the Inn's single internet connection!
Here's something in the meantime. In the 2000 general election, 21 Dixville Notch residents voted for George Bush, 5 for Al Gore and 1 for Ralph Nader. Gore did better in Hart's Location, where he got 13 votes. But Bush got 17.
In the 2000 primary, here were the results:
Dixville Notch:
Bush beat McCain & Forbes, 12-10-1
Bradley beat Gore, 4-2
Hart's Location:
McCain beat Bush, 9-5
Bradley beat Gore, 9-3
There's a lot of Dean and Clark signs up here, and a few Kerry, which matches up with the chatter I've had, so that's the order I would guess they come in the tally of the two early voting towns.