Story highlights

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders got off to an early lead in the New Hampshire primary early Tuesday morning

Sanders shut out Hillary Clinton, 4-0, while Kasich bested Donald Trump, 3-2

Dixville Notch, New Hampshire CNN  — 

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders got an early boost Tuesday as they won the vote in Dixville Notch, the New Hampshire hamlet that is home to the first vote in the first-in-the-nation primary.

Sanders shut out Hillary Clinton, 4-0, while Kasich bested Donald Trump, 3-2.

Those were the only nine votes cast.

RELATED: The effort to save New Hampshire’s midnight vote

Nestled into the White Mountains in New Hampshire’s northernmost reaches, Dixville Notch and two nearby towns, Hart’s Location and Millsfield, don’t count for many votes, but they do offer one positive for the winners: For nearly a full day, they’re ahead in the only results that have been tallied in the Granite State’s crucial primary.

In Millsfield, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the GOP vote with nine votes compared to Trump’s three, while several other GOP candidates received one vote apiece. Clinton received two votes to beat Sanders, who received one.

The New Hampshire primary: Election results

A decades-long tradition

At Dixville Notch, it’s a tradition that dates to the 1960s: A few voters and dozens of political journalists pile into The Balsams, where the votes are cast at midnight and counted immediately.

The town doesn’t have a record of predicting much about New Hampshire’s primary. In 2008, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won the Democratic primary by a 7-2 vote, even though Clinton won the state.

New Hampshire Midnight Vote
(2016) What it took to save New Hampshire's midnight vote
04:13 - Source: CNN

In 2000, George W. Bush beat John McCain, even though the Arizona senator won the state. And in 2012, Jon Huntsman won just as many votes – two – as Mitt Romney, the party’s eventual nominee.

A fictionalized version of Dixville Notch and its two early-voting neighbors was featured in an episode of Aaron Sorkin’s “West Wing” – this one dubbed “Hartsfield’s Landing.”

Dixville Notch’s nine-vote contingency is largely made of the staff redeveloping The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, which has been closed since its sale in 2011.

Still open, though, is the resort’s wood-paneled Ballot Room, which is decorated with political articles and cartoons dating back to its first-ever midnight vote: the 1960 general election, when Dixville Notch went 9-0 for Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy.

A picture of the town’s voters from the era is among the art featured in the room.