Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have tied with three votes each in the tiny New Hampshire township of Dixville Notch, kicking off Election Day in one of the first places in the country to report its presidential preference.
The unincorporated township, located along the US-Canada border in New Hampshire’s northern tip, opened and closed its poll just after midnight ET in a tradition that dates back to 1960. Four Republicans and two undeclared voters participated.
While Dixville Notch isn’t always predictive of the eventual winner – or even the state’s pick – its annual production, despite a dwindling population, is a success story for local leaders and a reason to smile for political junkies eager for an early taste of the day’s events.
By tradition, all eligible voters gather at the now-dormant Balsams Hotel in Dixville Notch to cast their secret ballots once polls open at midnight. Once every ballot is cast, votes are tallied and results announced – hours before anywhere else, making it a destination for national reporters, who often outnumber the voters.
Les Otten, one of the township’s voters and the lead developer for the Balsams, called the early release of the results “a civics lesson for the country,” adding that “if we can help people get out and understand that voting is an important part of their right as an American citizen, that’s perhaps the key to what we’re doing.”
Otten said he expects to break ground on the redevelopment project next summer. In the meantime, he said, “as long as we’re here and we’re property owners and we have, you know, our toothbrush in our bathrooms, we might as well exercise our right to vote.”
Nearby Millsfield and Hart’s Location, which is tucked in the White Mountains, first offered midnight voting before Dixville Notch but haven’t participated continuously and aren’t conducting it this year. A fictionalized version of the three neighbors was featured in an episode of Aaron Sorkin’s “West Wing” dubbed “Hartsfield’s Landing.”
Dixville Notch voters have supported the Democratic nominee the last two presidential elections, with the township in 2020 unanimously casting five votes for President Joe Biden and with Hillary Clinton in 2016 winning four of seven votes — two went to Trump and one to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
In January, four registered Republican voters and two independents participated in the GOP primary, casting six unanimous votes for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
The 75-year-old Otten, who said he has been “a Republican ever since I was seven years old,” told CNN before Tuesday’s vote that he would cast his ballot for Harris.
“Nowhere in the Pledge of Allegiance does it say anything about pledging your allegiance to a person,” Otten said. “And I think at the end of the day, Trump has made it clear that you need to pledge allegiance to him, and he alone can fix this, and that is as anti-democratic as I can understand.”
The voters also cast their votes in the country’s most competitive governor’s race between former one-term Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic nominee Joyce Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, to succeed retiring Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.
Election: Amid heightened security, fears for violence, U.S. voting begins
Voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, went to the polls early Tuesday morning, marking the official start of Election Day voting for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Six registered voters of the tiny town in northeastern U.S. cast their ballots at midnight, following a tradition that dates back decades ago. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump are tied in the town in a 3-3 vote.
Amid heightened security for fears of violence and chaos, the vast majority of polling stations across the country opens on Tuesday morning and will remain open until the evening. Local officials are taking elaborate measures to fortify election-related sites, including plans for snipers on a rooftop to protect a key vote-counting headquarters. Panic buttons for election workers and surveillance drones buzzing overhead, The Washington Post reported.
Tens of millions of voters across the country had already casted their ballots early, either by voting in person at polling stations or by mail. According to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab, as of Monday night, more than 82 million voters had already cast their ballots.
This election is widely regarded as one of the most divisive in American history. Harris and Trump have repeatedly warned against potentially catastrophic consequences inflicted on the country if the other is elected. Voters hold vastly different views on key issues such as the economy, immigration, and abortion rights.
According to an annual survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 77 per cent of U.S. adults said the future of the nation was a significant source of stress in their lives. Additionally, 74 per cent said they were worried that the election results could lead to violence.
“I will hope that whoever wins the presidential election will handle it gracefully, and whoever doesn’t win, likewise, will handle it gracefully.’’
Annmarie Pintal, one of the just six voters registered to vote in Dixville Notch, told Xinhua.
“We need unity. We need to come together on the common ground, and, be willing to set aside our differences,’’ said Scott Maxwell, another voter in the small town.
Trump insists on result on election night at final rally
The Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has once again set false expectations
regarding the vote count for the U.S. election, insisting on a result on election night. “We want the answer tonight,’’ the 78-year-old said at his final rally in Grand Rapids in the highly contested swing state of Michigan.
Trump had already stirred up sentiment in previous days with unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud. The Republican is running against Democrat Kamala Harris, and it is shaping up to be a close race. It is considered unlikely that the election result will be determined within a few hours after the polling stations close. Postal votes, in particular, delay the counting process in some states.
Following the 2020 presidential election, Trump declared himself the winner on election night and called for a stop to the vote count when he was temporarily ahead of his then-challenger Joe Biden. He has refused to acknowledge his election defeat in 2020 to Biden to this day. There are fears that Trump might repeat this strategy.
U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia increasing cyber election attacks
Top U.S. government intelligence officials intensified their warnings on Monday about foreign election interference – especially from Russia. The concern, from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), follows warnings on Friday about the interference.
The three agencies said they have “been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans.”
They said these efforts will intensify throughout Tuesday – election day – and afterwards, adding they will be focused on the seven key swing states: Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina.
U.S. voters are choosing whether to send former Republican president Donald Trump or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to the White House.
“Russia is the most active threat,” the joint statement said. “Influence actors” the group said were linked to Russia are creating fake videos and stories to undermine the election’s legitimacy, make voters afraid of the process and suggest that people with opposite political views are using violence against each other.
“These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials,” the agencies said. “We anticipate Russian actors will release additional manufactured content with these themes through election day and in the days and weeks after polls close.”
The intelligence officials said Russian-influenced operators had recently posted false articles that said U.S. officials were trying to influence the elections through ballot stuffing and cyberattacks. These bad actors “also manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona… to favor Vice President Kamala Harris,” the statement said.
“The Arizona Secretary of State has already refuted the video’s claim as false,” it added.
Iran has launched “maliciouis cyber activities” to negatively impact Trump, the statement continued.
The Tehran government is also trying to influence the election through fake videos and posts intended to stoke violence. The intelligence officials said Iran remained determined to avenge the death of Qassem Soleimani, who on the orders of Trump, was killed in Iraq in a U.S. airstrike in January 2020.
U.S. election 2024: Harris or Trump will inherit a mixed legacy
Amid discontent and division, with opinion polls showing nearly two-third voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction under President Joe Biden, Americans head to the polls on Tuesday.
While the United States economy is the envy of the industrialized world, emerging from COVID shutdowns with strong job growth and wage increases, many Americans complain those gains were gobbled up by high grocery and housing prices.
Biden’s promise of a return to a more humane immigration regime than under Republican former President Donald Trump soon collided with the reality of a spike in illegal border crossings.
The Supreme Court upended the legal landscape around abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade, inflaming one of the most divisive issues in American politics.
And despite Biden’s pledge that America would serve as a stabilizing force in the world, overseas conflicts have overshadowed his presidency.
Whoever triumphs in the election Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris will inherit the legacy of a Biden administration that made good on some promises, saw others swept off-course by events, and others still only partially fulfilled.