Tillotson

That didn’t diminish the symbolic weight of the midnight vote for Tom Tillotson, 78, the township’s moderator, an elected position that oversees town meetings.

“My one vote isn’t going to swing anything, but maybe how we vote might give people some alternatives,” said Mr. Tillotson, who is unhappy with the prospect of another matchup between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump.

But Mr. Tillotson insisted that the vote here is less about the party and more about the process.

Republicans and Democrats,” said Mr. Tillotson, a former Republican who left the party in 2020 and is now unaffiliated.

In the moments before midnight, Mr. Tillotson entertained the assembled media with a yarn about his father, Neil Tillotson, who began the midnight voting tradition.