First results in New Hampshire Republican Primary 2024: Nikki Haley wins SIX votes in tiny Dixville Notch as the rest of the state will vote later today

Nikki Haley emerged victorious among the six historic first votes cast minutes after midnight on Tuesday morning in the small town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

Haley earned all six of the city’s electors and defeated former President Donald Trump in the blue state, where the Republican electorate is more moderate than deep-red Iowa. Four of the voters are registered Republicans and two are independents.

Dixville Notch historically produces the nation’s first primary election results, with voting taking place at midnight on Election Day.

Early voting polls closed at 12:07 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Jan. 23 — and other locations across the state won’t open until 6 a.m.

Trump and Haley are the only Republican candidates on the ballot after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race on Sunday – just two days before the primaries. Democrat Dean Phillips is also on the ballot for the Democratic primary, which President Joe Biden did not attend.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley won all six votes cast in Dixville Notch at midnight Tuesday morning. Pictured: Haley speaks with supporters in Salem, New Hampshire, on Monday, January 22

But voters in New Hampshire can also write in any candidate they want in the primaries. There has been a huge write-in campaign by Democrats who are urging left-wing voters to write in President Biden’s name on Tuesday.

Many Granite State voters will wake up Tuesday morning to election results from Dixville Notch in The Balsams ski area in northern New Hampshire, while other polling places open as residents head to work.

Before voting began, an empty ballot box was shown to reporters and the national anthem was played by world-renowned Rhode Island accordionist Cory Pesaturo.

Also in the room with the voters and the reporters and cameras were two dogs: Max and Lucy.

City Clerk Tom Tillotson moderated the election Tuesday by announcing to the press in his living room that voters would also wear election officials’ hats and trade posts so they could cast their ballots.

Each of the six went behind a wall of draped American flags to vote in secret before dropping their ballot into the ballot box, which Tilloston then emptied at 12:07 p.m. to begin counting votes.

There were five electors in the 2020 general election, and they all cast their votes for President Joe Biden over Trump.

Just 20 miles from the Canadian border, The Balsams opened their closely watched polling place in the living room of the Tillotson House to a roomful of journalists documenting the votes of the city’s handful of voters.

Tom Tillotson returns his ballot after voting in the New Hampshire primary just after midnight on Tuesday, January 23 at the Tillotson House in Dixville Notch

Voting for the town’s six residents took place in the living room of the Tillotson House in The Balsams ski area in northern New Hampshire (photo just before midnight)

One of six Dixville Notch voters cast their ballot just after midnight with their dog accompanying him to the polls in the living room of Tillotson House at the Balsam resort

Hart’s Location and Millsfield have also historically been open for voting at midnight on Tuesday and were among the first to announce the results of the New Hampshire primary. Hart’s Location, a small town in the middle of the state with a population of 68, and Millsfield, just 10 miles south of Dixville Notch, with 21 registered voters, have decided to abandon their midnight voting this year.

In Hart’s Location, which markets itself as New Hampshire’s smallest town, polls open at 11 a.m. on Jan. 23.

Meanwhile, Millsfield elections official Shawn Cote told WMUR about the change over time: “Our population is getting older in Millsfield, and getting up at midnight to vote is becoming increasingly difficult for our population.

But Dixville Notch continued the 64-year tradition in the early morning hours of Tuesday, January 23.

Dixville Notch has only six voters this year. In 2020, five people voted in the city’s primary and general elections.

Journalists gather before midnight to watch the historic count of the nation’s first primary elections in the small town of Dixville Notch in northern New Hampshire

Before the pandemic, the small New Hampshire town had double the population it has today, with a dozen ballots from 2010 and even more in previous years.

In the 2020 primaries, three candidates in the city voted for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one for Senator Bernie Sanders and one for Pete Buttigieg.

In the general election, all five candidates voted for President Joe Biden over Trump.

“As Dixville goes, so goes the country,” Dixville Notch voter Les Otten told WMUR of the results being watched by dozens of cameras and reported immediately.

“Even if the spotlight wasn’t there, we would do the same thing,” he added. “It’s become kind of a tradition where we understand the importance of voting.”

The Balsams resort where the Dixville Notch voting takes place is undergoing a $300 million restoration and revitalization project.

Otten says the hope is that the voting bloc in the New Hampshire city, which produced the early results of the nation’s first primary, will grow.

“Our six will grow to 16, 26, 60 and so on this week as we grow, and it will be harder to get everyone in,” he said. ‘But the idea remains the same.’