Lines formed early, remained solid throughout the warm, sunny day, and late arrivals had to be turned away.

It was an historic presidential primary vote in New Hampshire, as a record number of residents - nearly 500,000 - cast ballots.

"The turnout reports throughout the state have been very, very heavy," said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlon.

Sixty-four percent of registered voters in Manchester came out, with the unofficial citywide count at 36,241.

"I know we have to have hit a record turnout for a primary," said City Clerk Carol Johnson.

Turnout was heaviest in Ward 3 at 78 percent; lightest in Wards 5, 11 and 12 at about 56 percent.

City election workers at tables set up to handle same-day registration rarely got a breather.

"Busy, busy, busy," said Helen Van Rossum, processing new Ward 12 voters in Northwest Elementary School's gymnasium. "People are registering who haven't voted in 15, 20 years."

Nicole Pepin, 26, waited in a long line yesterday morning to cast her first-ever ballot.

"I think it's about time that I actually get my opinion in there," said Pepin, who hopes a switch in presidential gender will bring a switch in sensibility.

"I think a woman in the White House could seriously affect the way this country's run," said the Hillary Clinton supporter.

When polls opened at 6 a.m. in Manchester, there was already a long line and a 20-minute wait outside Brookside Congregational Church in Ward 1.

Anyone in place by 7 p.m., said clerk Dianne Beaton, was allowed to vote, but an election official stepped in line to mark the endpoint and turn away late arrivals.

"This is as good as any presidential turnout I've ever seen, and I've been fiddling with these things since 1968," said Ward 2 Selectman Wayne Johnson, running through about 300 ballots per hour at Hillside Middle School.

The state's population growth - up about 100,000 since the 2000 primary's record turnout of 396,000 - and 60-degree weather in the southern tier, were factors in yesterday's turnout.

Political experts also point to this year's crowded field of candidates, without a sitting President or vice president among them.

"In this primary," said Secretary of State William Gardner, "there's really no one in the state who can say they have no one to vote for. There's someone from everyone."

In 2000, Republicans cast 239,532 ballots; Democrats totaled 156,862. That construct didn't hold.

Early returns showed about 60 percent of votes cast on the Democratic side.

Some city and town clerks were running low on Democratic ballots by mid-afternoon.

"The Democratic side was much heavier than the Republican side this time around," said Carol Johnson, Manchester's city clerk.

Johnson had to scramble at about 2 p.m. when she heard Ward 3 was running out of new voter registration forms.

She had already heard from several ward moderators calling with warnings of ballots running low.

Several, including Wards 1, 6 and 12, had to use absentee ballots, and Johnson had to supply a few with photocopied, initialed ballots. Those, she said, were "certified, sealed and distributed with a police escort."

Johnson said it was unclear last night whether any of those ballots had to actually be used.

As polls were closing, Scanlon said several town clerks had to dip into reserve ballots.

Londonderry, Merrimack and Bedford, said Scanlon, were among towns "down to the wire" on supplies, and his office had to deliver several hundred extra ballots to Salem.

Procedure, he said, is to use absentee ballots and photocopy those as needed. Any of those ballots, he said, would have to be initialed by the town clerk and counted by hand.

In Keene, Jennifer Walsh in the city clerk's office said ballots ran low last night and absentee ballots were distributed to some wards but ultimately weren't needed.

By 5 p.m., the Republican stronghold of New Castle reported nearly every voter marked off its checklist.

In the small Lakes Region town of Wolfeboro, more than 1,200 people had voted by 10 a.m.

Bow election officials projected turnout to top 75 percent.

Lines were reported outside polling places most of the day in Bedford, Milford and Peterborough, and along the Seacoast in Portsmouth, Durham and Newmarket.

Another factor in pushing turnout through the roof was the relatively strong finish of Republican Ron Paul with about 8 percent of the vote.

"The people who are attracted to him are people who might otherwise not vote," said Paul Manuel, executive director of the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College.

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