It was not a random sample and it will have no predictive value, but a quaint New Hampshire tradition – dating back to 1960 -- was preserved Tuesday just after midnight when voters in two tiny mountain towns, Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location, were the first ones to cast their ballots in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary.

The winners in midnight democracy in Dixville Notch: Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney, with two votes each; the winner in Harts Location: Romney, with 5 votes. Ron Paul came in close second with 4 votes, followed by Huntsman with 2, according to the Union Leader.

Herb Swanson / EPA

Town Moderator Tom Tillotson checks his watch before opening the polls to let voters cast their ballots in the New Hampshire Primary, after the stroke of midnight in the northern town of Dixville Notch.

More photos: Votes cast in Dixville Notch

Another 250,000 or so voters are expected to join those early birds by casting their ballots later Tuesday. Polls in the Granite State close at 8pm ET.

In 2008, John McCain won the balloting in Dixville Notch with 4 votes. Mitt Romney finished second with only 2. McCain also won Hart’s Location in 2008, edging Mike Huckabee, 6 votes to 5.