Dixville Notch, New Hampshire
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Dixville Notch (Coordinates: 44°52′15″N, 71°18′21″W) is an unincorporated small village in the Dixville township of Coos County, New Hampshire, USA. The town is known for being one of the first places to declare its results for the New Hampshire Presidential primary and U.S. Presidential elections.[1] It is located in the far north of the state, approximately 20 miles (30 km) from Canada, population approximately 75.
The village is named for the mountain pass (or "notch," in White Mountains terminology) about a hundred feet (30 m) uphill from it, that lies between Dixville Peak and Sanguinary Mountain, and separates the Connecticut River's watershed from that of the Androscoggin. Dixville Notch is also the location, in dramatic mountains about 1800 feet above sea level, of The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel; one of a handful of surviving New Hampshire grand hotels, it is situated on a 15,000 acre (61 km²) plot, accommodating golfing in the summer and skiing in the winter.
Midnight voting tradition
Elections in New Hampshire | |
Gubernatorial Elections: 2002 · 2004 · 2006 · 2008 · 2010 | |
Presidential Elections: Primaries 2000 · 2004 · 2008 Dixville Notch · Hart's Location | |
United States Senate Elections: 2002 · 2004 · 2008 · 2010 | |
United States House Elections: 2004 · 2006 · 2008 · 2010 | |
A similar tradition in the community of Hart's Location, New Hampshire began in 1948; theirs was discontinued in the 1960s in light of the abundance of media attention, and revived only in 1996. Informal competition for the distinction of the first town to report election results has been ongoing for several election cycles, among a number of small communities, including,
- in Coos County:
- Dixville Notch
- Millsfield (the township to the south of Dixville township),
- in Carroll County (the next to the southeast):
- in Grafton County (the next to the southwest of Coos):
- longest continuous record of midnight voting,
- highest count of midnight presidential primaries (12 as of 2004, vs. 5 to 9 for Hart's Location),
- at least one of the first handful of lawful votes (nationwide) in each presidential campaign's binding primaries,
- often first to report its returns, and
- barely challenged icon of voting first.
Although most New Hampshire polling stations open around sunrise and close in the early evening, Dixville Notch takes advantage of a state law that allows a precinct to close if all registered voters in that precinct have cast ballots. Consequently, all registered voters in Dixville Notch gather and are counted before the balloting takes place. The "Ballot Room" of the Balsams Hotel resort serves as the polling place; this room features separate voting booths for each citizen. The town residents also vote each cycle at a town meeting whether or not they will continue the tradition.
The tradition was first organized by prominent Dixville Notch resident Neil Tillotson (1898 - 17 October 2001), who was traditionally the first voter; he would reportedly hold his ballot over the ballot box while watching his wristwatch. At the moment of midnight, Tillotson would drop the ballot into the ballot box and the rest of the town's residents would follow suit. Since Tillotson's death from pneumonia in 2001 at the age of 102, the first voter has been chosen by random ballot beforehand.
In the most recent presidential election of November 2nd, 2004 the village had 26 registered voters, roughly half of whom are registered Republican; the other half are registered "undeclared", i.e., unaffiliated with a party. New Hampshire law, though, allows a voter to declare or change a party affiliation upon arriving at the polling place, so a number of independent voters vote in the Democratic party primary.
The votes are counted immediately after all are received; the Dixville Notch results of the primary (and now the Hart's Location ones as well) often lead morning news programs on election day. During every election year since 1968, the candidate with the plurality of Dixville Notch's voters has been the eventual Republican nominee for president. On the Democratic side, however, the village's election results have less often predicted the nominee. In 2000, for example, Bill Bradley won the most votes among Dixville Notch's Democratic primary voters although Al Gore was the party's eventual nominee.
In 1992, the Libertarian Party unsuccessfully attempted to capitalize upon Andre Marrou's unexpectedly strong showing in Dixville Notch in the general election. In 2004, Democratic candidate Wesley Clark was the only contender to personally visit Dixville Notch; he was on hand when the votes were cast and counted, and he received the majority of Democratic votes cast. (Clark placed third and received only 13 percent of votes statewide.)
The community's voting tradition received a nod in the 2002 third season episode of US television program The West Wing, in an episode entitled "Hartsfield's Landing", named after a town clearly modeled on either Dixville Notch, or its companion, Hart's Location.
[edit] Presidential election results
The eventual nationwide winners for each contest are indicated in bold.[edit] 1960
General Election: (9 voters)- Richard M. Nixon - 9
- John F. Kennedy - 0
[edit] 1964
Republican Primary: (9 voters)- Richard M. Nixon - 3
- Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. - 3
- Nelson A. Rockefeller - 2
- Barry M. Goldwater - 1
- Barry M. Goldwater - 8
- Lyndon B. Johnson - 1
[edit] 1968
Democratic Primary: (1 voter)- Richard M. Nixon - 1, write-in
- (Or possibly Hubert H. Humphrey II?)
- Richard M. Nixon - 5
- Wallace Johnson - 1, write-in
[edit] 1972
Democratic Primary: (6 voters)- Edmund S. Muskie - 5
- George S. McGovern - 1
- Richard M. Nixon - 11
- Richard M. Nixon - 16
- George S. McGovern - 3
[edit] 1976
Democratic Primary: (6 voters)- James E. Carter Jr. - 6
- Birch E. Bayh II - 1
- Gerald R. Ford Jr. - 11
- Ronald W. Reagan - 4
- Nelson A. Rockefeller - 2
- Barry M. Goldwater - 1
- Gerald R. Ford Jr. - 13
- James E. Carter Jr. - 11
- Eugene J. McCarthy - 1
[edit] 1980
Democratic Primary: (6 voters)Republican Primary: (17 voters)
- Ronald W. Reagan - 5
- George H.W. Bush - 5
- Howard Baker - 4
- John B. Anderson - 1
- John Connally - 1
- Philip Crane - 1
- Ronald W. Reagan - 17
- James E. Carter Jr. - 3
- John B. Anderson - 2
- Ed Clark - 1
[edit] 1984
Democratic Primary (6 voters)Republican Primary (20 voters)
General Election: (30 voters)
[edit] 1988
Democratic Primary: (7 voters)Republican Primary: (27 voters)
- George H. W. Bush - 11
- Robert J. Dole - 6
- Jack Kemp - 5
- Alexander Haig - 2
- Pierre "Pete" DuPont - 2
- Pat Robertson - 1
- George H. W. Bush - 34
- Michael S. Dukakis - 3
- Jack Kemp - 1
[edit] 1992
Democratic Primary: (4 voters)- William J. Clinton - 3
- Paul E. Tsongas - 1
- Andre Marrou - 10
- George H. W. Bush - 9
- Patrick J. Buchanan - 3
- Paul E. Tsongas - 1, write-in
- Andre Marrou - 1, write-in
- George H. W. Bush - 15
- H. Ross Perot - 8
- Andre Marrou - 5
- William J. Clinton - 2
[edit] 1996
Democratic Primary: (12 voters)- William J. Clinton - 12
- Robert J. Dole - 11
- Lamar A. Alexander - 5
- Patrick J. Buchanan - 2
- Malcolm S. "Steve" Forbes Jr. - 1
- Richard G. Lugar - 1
- Robert J. Dole - 18
- William J. Clinton - 8
- H. Ross Perot - 1
- Harry Browne - 1
[edit] 2000
Democratic Primary: (6 voters)- William W. Bradley - 4
- Albert A. Gore Jr. - 2
- George W. Bush - 12
- John S. McCain III - 10
- Malcolm S. "Steve" Forbes Jr. - 1
- George W. Bush - 21
- Albert A. Gore Jr. - 5
- Ralph Nader - 1
[edit] 2004
Democratic Primary: (15 voters)- Wesley K. Clark - 8
- John F. Kerry - 3
- John R. Edwards - 2
- Howard B. Dean III - 1
- Joseph I. Lieberman - 1
- George W. Bush - 11
- George W. Bush - 19
- John Kerry - 7
[edit] 2008
Democratic Primary: (10 voters)[2]- Barack Obama - 7
- John Edwards - 2
- Bill Richardson - 1
- John McCain - 4
- Mitt Romney - 2
- Rudy Giuliani - 1