Dixville Notch: Tiny town’s midnight poll sees Joe Biden sweep all five votes

For 60 years, Dixville Notch and Millsfield have been the first places to open their polls in the US

Tanner Tillotson writes on a board the results of ballots cast shortly after midnight for the U.S. presidential election at the Hale House at Balsams Hotel in the hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Reuters

A board shows results of ballots cast shortly after midnight for the US presidential election at the Hale House at Balsams Hotel in the hamlet of Dixville Notch. Reuters

Selectman Les Otten drops a ballot in a box shortly after midnight for the US presidential election at the Hale House at Balsams Hotel in the hamlet of Dixville Notch. Reuters

Town moderator Tom Tillotson holds a ballot shortly after midnight for the U.S. presidential election at the Hale House at Balsams Hotel in the hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Reuters

Debra Tillotson prepares to cast a ballot shortly after midnight for the U.S. presidential election at the Hale House at Balsams Hotel in the hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Reuters

A poll worker shows an empty box for ballots for the U.S. presidential election at the Hale House at Balsams Hotel in the hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Reuters

People vote shortly after midnight for the US presidential election at the Hale House at Balsams Hotel in the hamlet of Dixville Notch. Reuters

The historic Balsams resort next to the Hale House, where midnight voting takes place as part of the first ballots cast in the US Presidential Election, in Dixville Notch. AFP

The historic Balsams resort next to the Hale House, where midnight voting takes place as part of the first ballots cast in the US Presidential Election, in Dixville Notch. AFP

Two tiny New Hampshire communities marked the start of US election day just after the stroke of midnight as part of a 60-year tradition to be the first polls to open in the country.

The results in Dixville Notch, near the Canadian border, were a sweep for former vice president Joe Biden, who won the town’s five votes.

In Millsfield, about 20 kilometres to the south, President Donald Trump won 16 votes to Mr Biden’s five.

Normally, there would be a big food spread and a lot of media crammed into a small space to watch the voting, Tom Tillotson, town moderator in Dixville Notch, said last week.

But that is no longer possible because of the pandemic.

It is also difficult to observe the 60th anniversary of the tradition.

“Sixty years – and unfortunately, we can’t celebrate it,” Mr Tillotson said.

A third community with midnight voting, Hart’s Location, suspended the tradition this year because of coronavirus concerns.

It decided to hold voting from 11am to 7pm on Tuesday.

The White Mountains town started its tradition of early voting in 1948 to accommodate railroad workers who had to be at work before normal voting hours. It stopped in 1964, before bringing the practice back in 1996.

The communities also voted just after midnight for New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, which was on February 11.

That almost did not happen this year in Dixville Notch, when one person moved away, leaving the remaining four residents one short of the minimum needed to handle election responsibilities.

That was fixed when a developer working on renovations of the Balsams resort, where the voting tradition began but which is now closed, moved in.

For years, voting was held in a wood-panelled room filled with political memorabilia at the resort, which shut in 2011.

Some of those items were brought over to a former culinary school on the property, the setting for Tuesday’s vote.