Polls open in New Hampshire as Buttigieg makes appeal to undecided voters

MANCHESTER, N.H.—Voters in New Hampshire are heading to the polls Tuesday morning to cast their ballots in the first in the nation primary.

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is hoping that those New Hampshirites will vote for him.

Buttigieg and many other candidates are making stops at polling locations across the Granite State on Tuesday to meet with voters before they head inside.

A voter in New Hampshire, Bryce, said he’s excited to be campaigning outside of his Manchester polling location for Buttigieg.

“I have family all across the country, from California to West Virginia, from conservative to progressive and I think Pete is the candidate that can reach out with progressive ideas that brings everyone along,” Bryce said.

On Monday, Buttigieg rallied alongside undecided voters and committed supporters at multiple events, trying to win over the extra votes.

“Where did he come from? This is the guy I’ve been waiting for. I’ve never campaigned ever in my whole life for a candidate and I went out and knocked doors in ice storms, made calls. Things I said I would never do, I’ve done, because I believe in him,” said New Hampshire voter Lee Harper.

“I'm undecided but leaning towards Mayor Pete. I think there are a lot of good candidates. I came out over the weekend and checked out almost all of them, been to different rallies, almost made it to a Buttigieg rally yesterday but didn’t quite get in so trying again today,” said New Hampshire voter Adam Rack.

Buttigieg’s campaign is once again saying that his stops on Monday brought in record-breaking crowds for the venues they campaigned at.

New Hampshire’s Secretary of State expects 420,000 people to vote in this year’s primary: 292,000 in the Democratic and 128,000 in the Republican.

If those numbers hold true, it would be the most votes cast in a presidential primary in New Hampshire when an incumbent is running for re-election.

According to CNN, Senator Amy Klobuchar won the most votes after about two dozen New Hampshire residents in three small townships cast their ballots just after midnight.

New Hampshire’s northern tip, Dixville Notch, is home to the first locations to declare primary results because voters hit the polls so early.

Results show that Klobuchar started Tuesday with eight votes, while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren each had four, entrepreneur Andrew Yang won three, former Vice President Joe Biden, Buttigieg and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg each got two and Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard and businessman Tom Steyer each got one.

Polls continue to show Buttigieg hovering near the top in New Hampshire, with a poll released Monday showing him slightly behind Senator Bernie Sanders.

However, the poll does indicate a lot of undecided voters. More than a quarter surveyed did not know who they would vote for on Tuesday.

New Hampshire election officials and outside experts agree the state is unlikely to see the problems that plagued the Iowa caucuses, mainly because towns and cities, not political parties, run the primaries in New Hampshire.

Ballots are counted by hand or machines not connected to the internet, officials said.