Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent, reporting from New Hampshire

Officials are predicting a record-setting turnout for today’s New Hampshire primary.

A smooth primary process would be a welcome relief for state leaders, given that New Hampshire’s status at the front of the presidential nomination process is under serious threat.

While Republicans have kept New Hampshire as their first primary, Democrats – with President Joe Biden’s blessing – have tried to put South Carolina, with its more diverse voting population, at the head of the line.

New Hampshire balked and is holding a Democratic primary today anyway, despite Democrats ruling that the results will not affect who wins the nomination - that's because Biden is keeping his name off the ballot.

If Biden is embarrassed tonight, or there is controversy over the process, it could further cement Democratic plans to demote New Hampshire.

It makes for a fraught moment for the state whose political identity largely rests on its “first in the nation” status.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New Hampshire

Miranda Blair did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016 because he scared her.

This week, she was wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat as she waited in sub-freezing temperatures to hear him speak in Manchester, New Hampshire.

"Just a few years ago under Donald Trump, I felt like I could afford groceries and bring my girls skiing, and do all the things we wanted to do," she told me.

The 40-year-old sales manager voted for Barack Obama, a Democrat, in 2008 and found Trump's lack of political experience disqualifying in 2016, so didn't vote.

But during Trump's presidency, she changed her views. And her financial struggles now, under a Joe Biden presidency, have cemented her support for Trump.

Blair's evolution towards Trump helps explain why the former president looks near certain to win the Republican presidential nomination.

In New Hampshire, the second state to choose its nominee, Trump has opened a double-digit lead over former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.

You can read more about Blair and other New Hampshire voters here.

Image source, Getty Images

Nikki Haley's campaign has just released a state of the race memo where she reiterates some of the points she has made campaigning in the Granite State.

"The political class and the media want to give Donald Trump a coronation. They say the race is over," the memo says. "That isn’t how this works."

"Nikki is the last hope to get our party and our country back on track. And we’re going to get the job done," it adds.

The memo also adds that press are speculating New Hampshire may be her last chance to take on Trump. But the campaign claims there will be other opportunities down the line, including in her home state of South Carolina.

"South Carolina elected Nikki as Governor twice, against the odds," it says. "The people of South Carolina KNOW Nikki’s strong conservative record because they lived it."

Voting in the New Hampshire primary has opened, with people heading to the polls to cast their ballot for a favoured presidential candidate.

While it's not as frigid as Iowa last week (there was a frostbite warning if you were outdoors for more than 10 minutes), voters are queuing in the snow to get into polling stations across the state:

Some even brought their dogs:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Several states down to the south, President Joe Biden is holding his own campaign event in Virginia alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.

The two will also be joined by their spouses and are expected to talk about abortion rights, a key campaign issue for Democrats.

Monday marked the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. It was overturned by a conservative majority Supreme Court in 2022.

Biden is not on the primary ballot today in New Hampshire due to a Democratic National Party squabble with the state about the timing of the contest.

Phil McCausland
Reporting from New Hampshire

I just visited the Red Arrow Diner - a must-stop for presidential nominees in Manchester, New Hampshire - and shared a brief moment with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who is campaigning today for Donald Trump.

She declined to give me an exact prediction of tonight’s outcome, but she said anything over 55% would seal it for the former president.

“I think this will be the end of the Republican primary,” she said.

2016 seems a long time agopublished at 15:25 Greenwich Mean Time 23 January

15:25 GMT 23 January

Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent, reporting from New Hampshire

Covering the Republican primary then, we had five or six viable candidates including a couple of current and former governors and a couple of serving Senators.

This time the race feels over before it has begun.

Back in 2016, it was still far from clear that Donald Trump’s insurgent campaign would sweep all before it.

But when he took 35% of the vote - 19 points ahead of his nearest rival - three candidates immediately dropped out of the field.

Less than a month later, he would take 7 out of 11 states on Super Tuesday, and became unstoppable.

Image source, Getty Images

This photo is of five people at the voting booths in Dixville Notch. The community only has six voters.

The tiny town in the far north of the state opened and closed its poll just after midnight local time (05:00 GMT), making it the first place to declare primary results in New Hampshire.

And all six votes went to Nikki Haley.

Four registered Republican voters and two independents took part in the poll.

Reacting to the vote of confidence, the Haley campaign said it was “a great start to a great day in New Hampshire”.

Dixville Notch’s midnight voting tradition began in 1960, becoming something of a media event in recent years.

The official in charge of the vote, Tom Tillotson, said the vote was less significant than in previous elections:

Image source, Reuters

Nomia Iqbal
Reporting from New Hampshire

New Hampshire’s state motto Live Free or Die, should probably switch to Do or Die for today.

It’s Nikki Haley’s last chance to make a serious challenge and for many Never Trumpers, their only opportunity to stop Donald Trump’s inevitable march to the Republican presidential nomination.

There are nearly 40% independent voters here and we spent some time with activists who are hoping to convince the left leaning and liberal ones to go for the conservative Haley. She needs them.

But the former UN ambassador’s line straddling with Trump has turned many off. One independent telling us she couldn’t in 'good conscience' vote for someone who wasn’t clearly anti-abortion rights.

But even with independents on side, it ignores the very stark fact that we are approaching a near decade of the Trump era.

He’s really less of a candidate and more of a movement at this point. Haley would have to hugely overperform to position herself as a real alternative – and the polls here simply do not favour her.

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Voters in the New Hampshire primary will cast their ballots privately at different polling locations over the course of the day, much like other elections.

What time voting begins at those locations is up to the town and city governments in New Hampshire.

By law, doors must open by 11:00 EST(16:00 GMT) and can only close after at least eight hours.

While that's the official rule, most locations in the state will open by 6:00 or 7:00 local time before closing about 19:00.Some are opening even earlier, however.

Dixville Notch, a village of half a dozen people, opened its polls at midnight - continuing its long-time tradition of being the first voters in the state to cast their ballots.

Image source, Reuters

The Iowa caucuses on 15 January were the first in a string of state-by-state ballots where Republican voters pick their White House candidate. Now it’s the New Hampshire primary.

Yes, you read that right - two entirely different systems of voting aimed at determining the same thing. It's an unusual process.

So, here's a (very) brief look at how they work:

A caucus involves people attending various meetings organised by political parties at a designated time in places like churches and schools. In Iowa, caucuses were held at 19:00 local time.

Surrogates for the candidates make their case to party members in these meetings, before a vote is held.

A primary is organised by state or local governments and voting is via a secret ballot. Voting can happen throughout the day, not just at a specific time.

In New Hampshire, most voting locations opened about 07:00 local time and they will stay open for about 12 hours.

Essentially, the more votes a candidate gets in a caucus or primary, the more "delegates" they are awarded.

Francesca Gillett
US reporter

It’s barely more than a week since the 2024 US election cycle officially started in Iowa - where, as polls predicted, Donald Trump triumphed and became the clear front-runner in the race to be the Republican candidate for president.

Now we’re at it again, this time in New Hampshire on the US East Coast.

Unlike Iowa, today is a primary, not a caucus. And both the Democrats and Republicans are voting today (although as we’ll get into shortly, there’s a bit of a feud over the Democratic vote so the results won’t really matter).

In the Republican primary, Trump is still far ahead in the polls and is hoping to win all the early stages of this race, securing the presidential nomination early.

But his rival Nikki Haley has other ideas and will be hoping to find a footing in New Hampshire.

She’s been campaigning big in the state, and must cut into Trump's lead if she is to stay in the race.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.