Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, reported the first results from the 2024 election just past midnight on Tuesday, with the tiny hamlet deadlocking 3-3 for Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s early morning results are the best Trump has fared in the first-in-the-nation ballot, a tradition that dates back to 1960, according to Fox News. In 2020, Dixville Notch’s six votes – cast by four Republicans and two independents – went for President Joe Biden. In 2016, Trump received two votes and lost narrowly to Hillary Clinton’s three. One vote went third party.
The hamlet’s longtime town moderator who oversees the vote, Tom Tillotson, said after the results that Dixville Notch was “following the national trend,” according to The Washington Post, a reference to virtually even splits in a large number of polls. The averages for polling out of the swing states are all within three points, with most falling within two points, according to RealClearPolitics.
Dixville Notch residents also cast ballots in the New Hampshire governor’s race, with a clear preference for Republican Kelly Ayotte. Ayotte received five votes to one for Democrat Joyce Craig.
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Dixville Notch is one of a handful of New Hampshire towns that have a tradition of midnight voting, though Dixville Notch was the only polling place to hold its election at midnight this year.
The hamlet’s election tradition often draws reporters to watch the results of the first-in-the-nation contest, which had been bigger prior to the closing of the Balsams Hotel in 2011. The results of the hamlet’s election have never been seen as predictive, however.
One of the township’s voters, Les Otton, is the lead developer for the Balsams aiming to reopen the hotel. Otton said of Dixville Notch’s midnight voting tradition that “if we can help people get out and understand that voting is an important part of their right as an American citizen, that’s perhaps the key to what we’re doing,” according to CNN.
