New Hampshire primary for 2020 US election begins

The New Hampshire primary of the 2020 US presidential election began on Tuesday, with the first group of voters casting ballots in several small towns.

In Dixville Notch, a northern New Hampshire town close to the Canadian border, all of its five voters showed up at a polling station fully packed with reporters.

Hart's Location and Millsfield are two other midnight voting places in New Hampshire, traditionally the first US state to vote in the primary election, while other polling locations will be open hours later on Tuesday.

"Midnight voting in New Hampshire, along with New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation status, basically becomes the starting gun for the race," Tom Tillotson, Dixville Notch's election moderator, told Xinhua.

Sitting President Donald Trump held a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire Monday evening. Most Democratic presidential contenders are also in the Granite State to make a final push to appeal to voters.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is not competing in the early-voting states, including New Hampshire, received three write-in votes, one from a Republican and two from Democrats at that station, according to an official tally.

The remaining votes went to former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana Pete Buttigieg and US Senator Bernie Sanders.

In 2016, Trump won New Hampshire's GOP primary, although he lost the state to then his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in that November by a 0.4 per cent margin.

According to a tracking poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire for CNN, Sanders is leading the Democratic field in the Granite State with 28 per cent support, followed by Buttigieg with 21 per cent.

Former US Vice President Joe Biden lands 12 per cent, Senator Elizabeth Warren nine per cent, Senator Amy Klobuchar six per cent, US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard five per cent and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang four per cent.