High voter turnouts, particularly among young people and independents, characterized this year’s primary election as one of a possible culture change.

More than half of registered voters in Hooksett, Pembroke, Allenstown, Auburn, Candia and Epsom participated in the primary vote, with Hooksett hitting a high 68 percent turnout.

Overall, New Hampshire is one of the more independent states in the country. According to an ABC News exit poll, about 40 percent of registered New Hampshire voters who participated in the nation’s first primary on Tuesday, Jan. 8, were registered as undeclared or independent.

Republican winner John McCain, who took 37 percent of the Republican vote, was the favorite coming into the primary for his perceived ability to capture independent votes.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were in a dead heat for most of the night as results poured in, but Clinton pulled away overnight and came through with 39 percent of the Democratic vote to Obama’s 36 percent to take the win.

In Hooksett, where just three votes separated McCain and Romney on the Republican ballot, Clinton was a favorite with about a fifth of the total 5,337 votes cast for both parties.

Including write-ins and 25 blank ballots from voters who wrote in their choices and forgot to fill in the oval, 5,487 votes were cast, a 68 percent turnout.

Leslie Nepveu, Hooksett town clerk for the last 21 years, estimated more than 500 new voters registered at the polls. “For a primary election, it was definitely the highest turnout,” Nepveu said, but added checklist supervisors did not yet have an exact count.

The Associated Press set up shop at the polls at Cawley School with a live feed to a news program in Europe, Nepveu said.

About a third of Candia’s voters are registered as undeclared, 1,176 out of a total 3,228 names on the checklist. The total number includes 224 new voters, who accounted for one-tenth of the primary votes. About 65 percent of Candia’s registered voters showed up at the polls.

“I’ve been the town clerk for 24 years, and this was probably the best primary we’ve ever had,” said Town Clerk Christine Dupere.

Pembroke registered 45 new voters, bringing the checklist total to 5,505. According to Town Clerk James Goff, 3,025 votes were cast for a 55 percent turnout. New voters accounted for about 15 percent of the total votes. Democrats on the whole got about 40 more votes than Republicans in that town.

Pembroke election moderator Tom Petit, who has been working at the town’s polls since 1972 in various capacities, said he thinks the spike in voting numbers is a sign of the town’s growth.

“My first thought is our town, like a lot of other towns, is in a state of change,” he said, adding new people, particularly of a younger generation, have come to town in the past few years.

Before the election, said Allenstown Town Clerk Diane Demers, there were 2,554 registered Allenstown voters, 1,205 of those registered as undeclared.

By the close of the polls, 279 new voters had contributed to the 1,696 votes cast, making up about 17 percent of the total votes. The total turnout was 59 percent of registered voters.

“I think there’s a lot of things going on that’s sparking people’s interest,” Demers said, referring to the younger generation’s surge in political involvement and world issues.

Joanne Linxweiler, Auburn town clerk, said 2,541 votes were counted, amounting to a potentially record-breaking 66 percent turnout. Complete numbers for new voter registration were not available by press time, but Linxweiler said she was impressed with the amount of new voters who came out.

Epsom counted a total of 1,905 ballots. Of those, 227, or almost 12 percent, were from newly registered voters. Out of the total 3,261 registered voters, Epsom had a 58 percent turnout.

Blackwell said the inundation of political calls and mail in the weeks before the election could have spurred people to vote, as well as the outcomes in Iowa where Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee took their respective party’s victories in caucus.

Epsom was the only Banner town to vote mostly Republican, with 1,004 total Republican ballots to 901 Democratic ballots counted.