Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, made headlines early on Election Day as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each received three votes in the tiny township’s unique midnight voting tradition.
Midnight voting in Dixville Notch dates back to 1960, and it has since continued to receive media attention for the way it is being done. Each year, eligible residents gather at the Tillotson House to cast their ballots just minutes after midnight. On Tuesday morning, after a performance of the National Anthem by three-time world accordion champion Cory Pesaturo, the results were announced around 12:10 a.m. ET, which revealed that each candidate had received equal support from the voters.
Now with only six registered voters, the results from one of the first voting events of the day came as a shock to many. While Dixville Notch’s results are not always predictive of larger trends, they do provide an early indication of voter sentiment in New Hampshire, a key battleground state. Historically, the township has leaned Democratic in recent elections, with Joe Biden sweeping all votes in 2020 and Hillary Clinton securing a majority in 2016.
The tie between Harris and Trump this year seems to suggest that there’s a possible change in how voters are viewing the candidates. In the concurrent New Hampshire governor’s race, the results reflected a preference for Republican candidate Kelly Ayotte, who received five out of six votes from the locals. This indicates that, while opinions may differ in the presidential race, there remains a strong Republican presence in the township, which consists of four registered Republicans and two undeclared voters.