Dixville Notch, New Hampshire
Dixville Notch is an unincorporated community in Dixville township, Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The population of the township, all of whom live in Dixville Notch, was 4 as of the 2020 census. The village is known for being the first place to declare its results during the New Hampshire presidential primary. It is located in the northern part of the state, approximately south of the border with the Canadian province of Quebec. The village is situated at about above sea level at the base of mountains.
The village shares its name with Dixville Notch, a mountain pass that lies about southeast of and uphill from the village. The notch is located between Dixville Peak and Sanguinary Mountain, separating the Connecticut River's watershed from that of the Androscoggin River. The village is the location of The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, one of a handful of surviving New Hampshire grand hotels, situated on a property, accommodating golfing in the summer and skiing in the winter.
Dixville Notch is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Neil Tillotson moved to Dixville Notch in 1954, and became the town moderator and owner of The Balsams. He did not like having to drive 45 minutes to the nearest polling station, but learned about midnight voting from an Associated Press reporter. The state legislature approved the town's request to become a voting precinct. Tom Tillotson has been the town moderator since 1976. The town has six voters, four Republicans and two independents.On November 5, 2024, the town residents would vote in the 2024 United States presidential election with 3 votes going to Harris and 3 votes going to Trump.
Politics
Midnight voting tradition
Dixville Notch is best known in connection with its longstanding midnight vote in the U.S. presidential election, including during the New Hampshire primary, the first primary election in the U.S. presidential nomination process. In a tradition that started in the 1960 election, all the eligible voters in Dixville Notch gather at midnight in the ballroom of The Balsams. The voters cast their ballots and the polls are officially closed when all of the registered voters have voted – sometimes merely one minute later. The results of the Dixville Notch vote in both the New Hampshire primary and the general election are traditionally broadcast around the country immediately afterwards.A similar tradition in the town of Hart's Location in adjacent Carroll County began in 1948. Theirs was discontinued in the 1960s in light of the abundance of media attention, revived in 1996, and discontinued again in 2024. 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:
- Coos County:
- * Dixville Notch
- * Millsfield
- Carroll County :
- * Hart's Location
- Grafton County :
- * Ellsworth
- * Waterville Valley
- Longest continuous record of midnight voting
- Highest count of midnight presidential primaries
- At least one of the first handful of lawful votes, nationwide, in each presidential campaign's binding primaries
- Often first to report its returns
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 served as the polling place until a recent fire. This room featured separate voting booths for each citizen.
The tradition was first organized by prominent Dixville Notch resident Neil Tillotson, 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 presidential election of November 2, 2004, the village had 26 registered voters, roughly half of whom were registered as Republican. The other half were registered "undeclared" or unaffiliated with a party. New Hampshire law allows a voter to declare or change a party affiliation upon arriving at the polling place, meaning that a number of the town's 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 between 1968 and 2012, the candidate with the plurality of Dixville Notch's voters has been the eventual Republican nominee for president. On the Democratic side, 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.
The eventual nationwide winners for each contest are indicated in bold.