By Aldgra Fredly
Voting for the 2024 presidential race in the small town of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire has concluded, with an even split of votes between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Dixville Notch, located near the U.S.-Canada border, kicked off Election Day with its tradition of casting ballots after the stroke of midnight. The town has maintained the tradition for over 60 years.
The town had a total of six registered voters this year. The result was announced hours before polling began in other states, with Harris and Trump each securing three votes in Dixville Notch.
In the 2020 election, Dixville Notch had only five registered voters and they voted for President Joe Biden over Trump, making Biden the second presidential candidate to win every vote in the small town since 1960.
In the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton won four of the town’s votes while Trump received two.
Dixville Notch is the only place that conducts midnight voting. The state electoral laws allow communities to close polls after every registered voter has cast their ballot.
In January, all six of the registered voters of Dixville Notch voted for former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley in the GOP primary. Haley ended her presidential campaign in March and later voiced endorsement for Trump.
Dixville Notch shares midnight voting with Hart’s Location, a small town in the White Mountains that started the early voting tradition in 1948 to accommodate railroad workers who had to be at work before normal voting hours. Hart’s Location suspended the midnight voting in 1964 and brought it back in 1996.
Neil Tillotson, who moved to the town and purchased the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch in 1954, brought the midnight voting tradition to the town in 1960 by having voters gathered in the hotel. The hotel was closed in September 2011.
“The initial motivation was simply to be able to vote without having to drive 50 miles,” his son, Tom Tillotson, told The Epoch Times in January. “At the time, he learned that he could incorporate to vote.”
While other places in New Hampshire had midnight voting, Dixville Notch’s complex had darkrooms and other features that made it easier for journalists to file.
“The press that covered it found it the easiest place to cover it, so they kind of adopted it as the first in the nation,” Tillotson stated.
The Associated Press and Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.
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