First US election result is a three-all tie between Trump and Harris | New Hampshire

The traditional first count of the 2024 US presidential election in the small village of Dixville Notch in the northern tip of New Hampshire ended in a deadlock: three votes for Kamala Harris and three for Donald Trump.

It took about 12 minutes to count and certify the votes of the six residents of this small community near the Canadian border, which has cast its ballots at midnight on Election Day for decades. The result marks a significant shift from four years ago, when all five votes went to Joe Biden.

Dixville Notch, in the White Mountains, started its early voting in 1960. The tradition originated in the nearby town of Hart’s Location, to accommodate railroad workers who had to be at work before normal voting hours.

While the city’s results don’t always predict the final winner — in 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Trump here by four votes to two — this time the result is consistent with what most polls say is an extremely close election and evenly split voters.

“This feels about normal,” Tom Tillotson, 79, told the New York Times. His father, Neil Tillotson, started the tradition of early morning voting at his Balsams Grand Resort hotel in 1960, gaining free publicity by allowing reporters to use the hotel’s telephones to report the vote count, well before polls from other precincts were available.

All six residents who voted in this year’s election live in the former hotel. One of them, Scott Maxwell, expressed surprise at the unexpected split result. “I didn’t see it coming,” he told the New York Times. He also admitted that even he was surprised by his vote for Trump.

Les Otten, another voter, told CNN that the early release of the results is “a social lesson for the country,” adding, “If we can help people get out and understand that voting is an important part of their right as an American citizen, that might be the key to what we do.”