These two tiny towns in New Hampshire are locked in an epic struggle over the famous 'midnight vote'

Don't let their quaint bed-and-breakfast façades fool you. You don't want to cross these tiny towns in New Hampshire — especially when it comes to their claim on the midnight vote.

In one corner is reigning champion Dixville Notch, longtime "home to the midnight voters, the 20-some-odd folks who gathered at the Balsams [Resort] to cast the first ballots in the nation." Dixville Notch's New Hampshire primary poll typically closed at 12:07 a.m., an adorable gimmick that brought crowds of reporters and flocks of politicians every four years. But when the resort closed a few years ago, the residents dwindled down to just the Balsams owner and his wife. After the 2012 primary, it seemed that the midnight vote would tumble out of town.

The apparent villain in this tale is the neighboring town of Millsford, which, "quaint opportunists that they are," planned to seize the title of New Hampshire's midnight voters, complete with a very official "chalkboard that read: First in the Nation Vote."

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But there may be hope for Dixville yet! Les Otten — the former co-owner of the Boston Red Sox and one of the masterminds who saved Fenway — is the new owner of the Balsams. And, you guessed it: He plans to keep the midnight vote in town.

Anything could happen, and may the best microscopic town win! Read the whole narrative of these political Hunger Games over in The Washington Post.