Amy Klobuchar–Caricature by DonkeyHotey, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original

Three tiny New Hampshire townships carried out their customary midnight votes to kick off the first 2020 Democratic presidential primary vote in the nation. The results were surprising.

Shortly after midnight, in a tradition that began in 1960, five votes were cast in Dixville Notch. Of those, three write-in votes went to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and one to former South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

(Note: One of the three write-in votes for Bloomberg was cast in the Republican primary, which is why some media outlets report that he received only two in the Democratic primary.)

A latecomer to the Democratic primary, Bloomberg will appear on the ballot for the first time on Super Tuesday (March 3).

According to CNN, Dixville Notch voters have correctly predicted the eventual winner in three out of the last five general elections. However, they report:

It’s less predictive with primary returns: In 2016, Sanders, who went on to win the state by 22 percentage points, was the choice for 100% (or four, in total) of the voters who cast ballots in the Democratic contest. But it was former Ohio Gov. John Kasich who edged out Donald Trump, 3 to 2, in the Republican race. Trump, though, was resilient. He won the state’s GOP primary by about 20 percentage points.

WMUR9 in New Hampshire indicated that eighteen votes had been cast by residents of Hart’s Location. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), whom conservative pundit Mark Steyn refers to as the “sensible shoes” candidate, emerged as the winner with six votes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) received four, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, three, and Sanders two. Former Vice President Joe Biden, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Tom Steyer each received one vote.

In Millsfield, WMUR9 reported that Klobuchar won two votes, and Sanders, Buttigieg, and Biden each received one.

So, the results for the three townships in the Democratic primary are as follows:

Klobuchar: 8

Sanders: 4

Warren: 4

Yang: 3

Biden: 2

Buttigieg: 2

Bloomberg: 2

Gabbard: 1

Steyer: 1

Two new polls, conducted after Friday night’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire, show Klobuchar in third place. She has edged ahead of Biden and Warren.

An Emerson College survey shows Klobuchar at 14% and Suffolk University places her at 13.6 %. Both polls were conducted on February 8 and 9.

President Trump was the winner of the Republican primary receiving 15 votes. Next was former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld with four, and Concord, NH native Mary Maxwell and Bloomberg each received one vote.

Polls are now open across the state. Tonight should be interesting.