Sundiata Post – In a ‘civics lesson for the country’ the midnight voters cast them equally for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump
You’re probably thinking ‘have I missed the vote?’, no the polling stations are yet to open in every part of the US.
Well, every part except the unincorporated community of Dixville Notch, in New Hampshire, just an 40-minute drive from Canada.
There’s only six people living in the miniature community, but the early results declaration may just detail the week we’re about to witness with both Democrat and current Vice-President Kamala Harris and the Republican former president Donald Trump tied.
Following all six registered voters having slipped their sheets in the ballot shortly after midnight, Dixville Notch declared its first results of the 2024 presidential election – which has been a tradition for the community dating all the way back to 1960.
It will be the only place having done so for the next few hours, at least.
Each year, all of its eligible voters visit the now-vacant Balsams Hotel, and like polling stations across the US, their votes remain anonymous.
Then, like everywhere else, the votes are then tallied and results announced – usually with more journalists in the room ready to break the news than voters there themselves.
Speaking about the results to CNN, townsfolk Les Otten called the early declaration: “A civics lesson for the country.
“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.”
He added: “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.”
It is the first time for a while that Dixville Notch voters have been split, in the last two elections they have swung towards the Democratic nominee.
In 2020, there were five unanimous votes for President Joe Biden and four years before that Hilary Clinton won four of seven votes – two went to Trump while one was cast for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
Otten disclosed that he has been ‘a Republican ever since I was seven years old’ but opted against voting for Trump. Instead, he told the outlet he cast his vote for Harris.
The 75-year-old said: “Nowhere in the Pledge of Allegiance does it say anything about pledging your allegiance to a person.
“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.”
