But if things go as planned, residents of this tiny town and remote Dixville Notch even farther to the north will cast the first votes in the nation's earliest presidential primary on Feb. 1.

Continuing a sporadic half-century-old tradition, all 27 registered voters in this village framed by the snow-covered White Mountains plan to vote at midnight, hours before the rest of the state awakens.

"The thing that struck me the last time I did it is that it's such a great way for kids to see democracy in action," said resident Kath Harris, who works at the Notchland Inn. "These are not some crazy numbers coming off a TV screen. These are parents and neighbors getting excited about something people ought to be excited about."

State law requires the polls to stay open until 7 p.m. -- unless everyone eligible to vote in a town has done so. The tradition of voting early began in Hart's Location in 1948, when nearly everyone worked for the railroad and had to be at work before the polls normally would have opened.

But voting in 2000 could be considered two parts democracy, one part sport. Residents not only will meet at the inn about an hour before midnight to share their favorite recipes for coffee cake and the like, but they will do a practice run to voting booths customized with their names written in colored markers.

"It's like a civics course made real," said Les Schoof, one of the inn's owners. "The feeling is if we can all show up to vote for Ed to be selectman, we can all show up to vote for a president."

Admittedly, the pace picks up a notch during the presidential primary. A sleepy town of a few dozen year-round and vacation homes nestled into a state park and a national forest suddenly is bathed in the spotlight of international attention.

"Being so small you don't expect interest," said Doris Clemons, 89, a longtime resident of Hart's Location who now lives in nearby Bartlett. "But I suppose it's an unusual situation, so that's why they started coming."

In fact, the hoopla that accompanies the village's 15 minutes of fame prompted townsfolk to cancel midnight voting in 1964.

"A couple of old-timers got tired," Schoof said. "They couldn't go to the outhouse without someone sitting next to them asking questions."

The tradition wasn't revived until the last primary, in 1996.

Dixville Notch, a tiny hamlet about 50 miles north, was more than willing to take over the first-to-vote honors and incorporated itself for voting purposes only. The balloting is at The Balsams, among the last of the stately grand hotels that once dotted the White Mountains.

For many of Dixville's 30 registered voters, voting at midnight in the hotel's Ballot Room is a tradition of more than 30 years.

"It's a ribbon-cutting ceremony that begins here in Dixville and continues across the country," said Michael Pearson, a selectman.

Though residents of both communities say it's not a race between the two locales -- or inns -- both have orchestrated plans to get the word out fast, including installing special telephone lines to broadcast their votes to the world.

The bottom line, Pearson says, is that "the more towns that have 100 percent voter participation, the better off this country will be."

But as Bill King, a 65-year-old Hart's Location native, points out, 100 percent is never guaranteed.

"Anyone can vote at midnight, but you can't close the polls until everyone has," he said. "All it takes is one person not to vote, and that's the end of midnight voting."