First US election result is three-all tie between Trump and Harris

The initial vote count for the 2024 US presidential elections took place in the small town of Dixville Notch, located at the northern end of New Hampshire, and resulted in a tie: Kamala Harris received three votes, while Donald Trump also garnered three.

Counting and verifying the votes of the six residents in this small community close to the Canadian border took about 12 minutes. For many years, they have been voting at midnight on election day.

This outcome represents a notable change from four years ago when Joe Biden received all five votes. According to the Washington Post, this time around, four of the registered voters are Republicans and two are independents.

Dixville Notch, located in the White Mountains, began its early voting practice in 1960. This custom was inspired by the nearby town of Hart’s Location, which implemented it to help rail workers who needed to be on the job before the usual voting times.

While the town's outcome doesn't always indicate who will ultimately win – for instance, in 2016, Hillary Clinton won against Trump by a margin of four votes to two – this time, the result aligns with the general consensus of polls, suggesting that the election is highly competitive and the voters are split fairly evenly.

"This seems pretty usual," said 79-year-old Tom Tillotson in an interview with the New York Times. His father, Neil Tillotson, established the practice of early-morning voting at the Balsams Grand Resort hotel back in 1960. He attracted media attention by permitting reporters to use the hotel’s phones to share the vote tally before exit polls from other regions were released.

All six voters from this year's election are residents of the old hotel. One of them, Scott Maxwell, was surprised by the unexpected outcome. "I didn't expect that," he said in an interview with the New York Times. He also shared that he was surprised by his own choice to vote for Trump.

Les Otten, a voter, shared with CNN that the prompt announcement of the results serves as “an important civic lesson for the nation.” He went on to state, “If we can encourage people to participate and recognize that voting is a crucial aspect of their rights as American citizens, that might be the most important part of our efforts.”