First Election Day result was in small town with just six voters. Here’s how it went
Subscribe To Inside Washington For Daily Insights
Subscribe For Our Free Inside Washington Emails
The results of the 2024 election in a small town in New Hampshire have been announced, and they ended in a draw.
The six people living in Dixville Notch, close to the Canadian border, only had to wait 12 minutes to find out the results of their vote that took place at midnight.
Similar to the situation nationwide, the outcome was tied: three votes went to Donald Trump and three to Kamala Harris.
Four years back, Dixville had five votes, all of which were for Joe Biden, despite the fact that four of the locals identified as Republicans. This year, three of those four Republicans chose to vote for Trump, while one changed their mind and decided to support Harris.
Dixville Notch started its tradition of midnight voting as a follow-up to a practice that began in nearby Hart's Location and Millsfield, according to The Guardian. This late-night voting was introduced to help rail workers, who needed to be on the job before regular voting times started.
The custom started in Dixville Notch during the 1960s when Neil Tilotson, the owner of a local hotel, held the early morning voting event at his establishment. He welcomed journalists to spend the night and provided them with phones to report the outcomes. On Tuesday, all six residents who cast their votes early were from the old hotel.
The residents of Dixville Notch voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 with a tally of 4-2 against Trump and showed strong support for Biden in 2020. However, this year, Trump gained some support among the people in the township.
A local resident named Scott Maxwell shared with the New York Times that he didn’t anticipate a divided vote this year and admitted he was even surprised to find himself voting for Trump.
Les Otten, a local resident, was the Republican who switched sides to vote for Harris.
The 75-year-old expressed to CNN prior to the vote that he believed Trump wanted people in the U.S. to show their loyalty to him.
Otten stated, "The Pledge of Allegiance doesn't mention swearing loyalty to an individual. Ultimately, Trump has suggested that loyalty should be directed toward him, claiming that only he has the solutions. This, in my view, is fundamentally anti-democratic."