DIXVILLE NOTCH, NH (AP) – Two small New Hampshire communities that vote for the presidency after midnight on Election Day have cast their ballots, one of which marks 60 years since the tradition began .
The results of Dixville Notch, near the Canadian border, were a sweep for former Vice President Joe Biden who won the city’s five votes. In Millsfield, 12 miles (20 kilometers) to the south, President Donald Trump won 16 of Biden’s five.
In the Dixville Notch last week, city moderator Tom Tillotson said that there is usually a large food spread and a small space to see voting gets a lot of media crowds. But this is no longer possible due to the coronovirus epidemic. It is also difficult to observe the 60th anniversary of the tradition that began in November 1960.
“Sixty years – and unfortunately, we can’t celebrate it,” he said.
The location of Hart, a third community with midnight voting, suspended the tradition due to coronovirus concerns this election. It decided to vote on Tuesday from 11 am to 7 pm. The city of White Mountain began early voting in 1948 to accommodate railmen who had to work before normal voting hours. It eventually closed in 1964 and was brought back in 1996.
Communities also vote after midnight for New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidency, which was on 11 February. This did not happen nearly as much this year in Dixville Notch, when one person walked away, leaving the remaining four residents a shortfall of the minimum required to handle various election responsibilities. This was decided when a developer renovating the now-closed Balsam Resort moved to where the voting tradition began.
For years, voting took place in a wooden paneled room filled with political mementos in Balsam, which closed in 2011. Some of those items were brought to a former culinary school on the property, setting for Tuesday’s vote.
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