werent the first she said sheldon should know shes the one who found the 1952 time magazine article sitting in a time capsule detailing the first midnight vote in millsfield town members like to point out that while it was first to vote the town didnt have access to electricity until the late 1960s what happened next is unclear but since 1960 the media has descended on dixville notchs ballot room every four years at midnight while millsfield residents quietly voted in barns and living rooms during the day they made a deal with dixville said ll cote a millsfield resident who owns a nearby sporting goods store amid rows of rifles and stuffed moose he joked that the towns were supposed to alternate the honors but when millsfield wanted it back the phone line wasnt working that night these gop candidates cant leave iowa quickly enough iowa caucuses appeal to the most colorful and passionate voters in preparation for the centennial of the new hampshire primary secretary of state william gardner asked millsfield to revive the tradition that task has fallen to wayne urso who moved to the remote community in 2001 and will now preside over the primary vote i expected that most people would say eh stay out of the limelight urso said but it was actually the reverse they unanimously said weve got to do this again complicating things he said is the lack of any living memory of the process no one living in millsfield was around for the last midnight vote this time around we want to make sure that we leave some history behind for future generations urso said in the meantime millsfield organizers have only a time capsule to guide them along with the expertise of a town 70 miles south in the heart of the white mountains harts location pop 42 in the mind of harts location residents theres nothing happening up north that wasnt already happening in 1948 we are the first historically said state representative ed butler in 1948 the first vote happened actually up the road a bit at the post office the midnight vote didnt arise from a pang of patriotism or hunger for publicity he said but rather a scheduling conflict local railroad workers preferred to vote during their offhours but the tradition ceased in 1964 one of the voters said he couldnt go to the outhouse without some damn reporter following him and so he didnt want to do it anymore butler said and youve got to have a 100 percent participation in order to be able to close the polls locals revived the tradition in 1996 though at times they have struggled to command the attention of the national press officials wryly recall phoning news organizations with vote tallies just after midnight on election day and being put on hold editors they were told were awaiting dixvilles first in the nation results recently mark dindorf chairman of the towns