Two towns in New Hampshire have already opened and closed their voting, and President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney came out in a tie in one, while Obama won in the other.
Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, has opened its polls shortly after midnight each election day since 1960. And when the votes were tallied – all 10 of them – town leaders learned that Obama and Romney each got five votes.
Another small New Hampshire town – Hart’s Location, which in 1996 reinstated its practice from the 1940s in opening its polls at midnight – returned a vote giving Obama a 23-9 nod over Romney.
The tie was the first in Dixville Notch’s history, and was unexpected, town clerk Dick Erwin told CNN. The town has two registered Democrats, three Republicans and five independents.
Considering the way things are polling around the country, we may have been the first tie of the day. Keep your eyes on the news reports, because it’s going to be a wild ride.
The town has about a dozen residents and has drawn national attention for being the first place in the country for letting its presidential preferences be known. Election officials never have to worry that nobody is interested there, because Dixville Notch has had 100 percent voter turn out since it started being the first place in the nation to vote.
New Hampshire voting law says a polling place can be closed once all voters have cast their ballots, so the two villages opt to go early.
Dixville Notch usually leans Republican, but residents went for Obama in 2008, marking the first time most voters in the village chose a Democrat in over 40 years.