ROGERIO BARBOSA /AFP/Getty Images

Voters in Dixville Notch, N.H., prepared to cast their ballots just after midnight Tuesday. The 46 voters who live there and Hart’s Location voted first.

By Lisa Wangsness Globe Staff

MANCHESTER, N.H. — When she lost her shipping job with an automotive company during the recession, Kelly Ng’s unemployment benefits carried her through. She credited President Obama with keeping her family afloat during those tough times, and Tuesday she voted for him again.

“When I was unemployed, he kept extending unemployment benefits so it was not so bad trying to find a job,’’ said Ng, 36, gently swinging her 6-week-old daughter, Jasmine, snuggled in her car seat. “Luckily, he got things turned around so I was able to go back to the same job” when her company began rehiring.

Obama was the projected winner of New Hampshire’s four electoral votes, taking a critical swing state from Mitt Romney, who focused heavily on the state he used as a backdrop for his presidential announcement and where he owns a vacation home.

Nancy Lavigne, a 73-year-old retired bank worker, almost ­always votes for the Democrat in presidential races. Yet on Tuesday morning, ­Romney got her vote, because, unlike Ng, she doesn’t think Obama has done enough.

“I think we need a change,” she said as she emerged from the Pope Pius X religious education center, the polling place for Ward 6, on Manchester’s east side. “Things are not moving fast enough. It’s been four years, and they’re not doing anything. It’s time to try someone else.”

Turnout was heavy Tuesday morning; the parking lot was packed and a line of voters stood waiting when the polls opened at 6 a.m., officials said.