New Hampshire Primary Results from Dixville Notch and Harts First Primary Votes cast in the Country

State election officials forecast a record-setting primary turnout, as Senator Barack Obama sought to record a second Democratic victory and Senator John McCain looked to revive his second bid for the White House.

In the Democratic and Republican primaries here, a large group of voters who are not registered in either party hold significant sway over the outcome. Those independent voters, 45 percent of the state electorate, are free to cast ballots in either primary, and they were vigorously courted by Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain and several other candidates.
 
On a day that felt like springtime, with temperatures expected to reach 60 degrees, voters flooded the polls at a steady pace throughout the morning. The secretary of state, Bill Gardner, predicted that at least a half-million people would vote in the primary. The last time both parties had open contests with no incumbent, in 2000, nearly 400,000 voters turned out, or 44.4 percent of the voting-eligible population.