Today is the New Hampshire primary for both Democrats and Republicans. If you’re participating, you’ll need to know your polling location, where it’s located and the hours it’s open and closed. Read on for more details about where the polling location near you is located if you’re a New Hampshire resident.
Where You Can Vote Today in New Hampshire
Unlike a caucus, the primary works like any other election, where people vote at their polling locations during a specified time period. Some will open as early as 6 a.m., some at 7 or 8 a.m., and some as late as 11 a.m. Thirteen cities can keep their polls open until 8 p.m., but most locations close by 7 p.m.
You can see a full list of polling locations, including towns, addresses, phone numbers, and polling hours, here.
To search for your polling location by town, street name, or street range, you can visit New Hampshire’s polling look-up site here.
More Details About the New Hampshire Democratic Primary
Today, voters are only casting their vote for their choice in either the Republican or Democratic primary. You must be registered in the party in order to vote, but you can register today or change your party affiliation today at the polling site.
In the Democratic primary, candidates are only viable (and can only be allocated delegates) if they earn more than 15 percent of the vote. Delegates will be awarded proportionally. This is not a winner-takes-all state.
Welcome back to the New Hampshire Primary fact series! Check out #1-5 above for info about our #FITN primary — happening tomorrow, Feb. 11.
Today we’re explaining delegate allocation! TL;DR – the certified election results are the source for official delegate counts. #nhpolitics
In New Hampshire’s Democratic primary, 24 pledged delegates are at stake. The state has a total of 33 delegates. The 24 delegates are pledged based on the voting results in the primary, as long as a candidate gets at least 15 percent of the vote. Unlike a caucus, the primary works like any other election, where people vote at their polling locations during a specified time period. Polls open at different times, depending on the location. Most don’t open until 11 a.m. Eastern, but some open as early as 6 a.m. Most close at 7 p.m. but some may stay open until 8 p.m.
Results will start coming in as early as an hour after the polling locations close. So we may know a lot of results by 9 p.m. Eastern, an hour after all the locations have closed. It really depends on how smoothly the process goes today.
The Democratic National Convention will take place July 13-16. According to Ballotpedia, there will be 4,750 delegates total, including 3,979 pledged and 771 automatic (more commonly known as superdelegates.) In order to not have a contested convention, a candidate needs 1,991 pledged delegates on the first ballot. (Superdelegates aren’t allowed to vote on the first ballot.) If no candidate gets this majority of pledged delegates, then a second ballot (or more) will take place and both pledged and automatic delegates can vote this time. From then on, a candidate needs the majority of all delegates to win, which is more than 2,375 votes.