Dixville Notch is an unincorporated community in Dixville township, Coos County, New Hampshire, United States. The population of the township, all of whom live in Dixville Notch, was 4 as of the 2020 census.[1] The village is known for being the first place to declare its results during the New Hampshire presidential primary.[3] It is located in the northern part of the state, approximately 20 miles (32km) south of the border with the Canadian province of Quebec. The village is situated at about 1,800 feet (550m) above sea level at the base of mountains.
The village shares its name with Dixville Notch, a mountain pass that lies about 0.5 miles (0.8km) southeast of and 100 feet (30m) 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 15,000-acre (61km2) plot, accommodating golfing in the summer and skiing in the winter.
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.[4]
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 (the township to the south of Dixville township)
Press accounts occasionally falsely state that Dixville Notch "votes first" in U.S. presidential elections. However, the village does hold a number of voting records within the United States:
Longest continuous record of midnight voting
Highest count of midnight presidential primaries (13 as of 2008, vs. 5 to 9 for Hart's Location)
At least one of the first handful of lawful votes, nationwide, in each presidential campaign's binding primaries
Often first to report its returns
Dixville Notch was granted the authority to conduct its own elections in 1960 and chose to open its polls at midnight. In 1964, the primary election returns were the first in New Hampshire to be reported by UPI and the Associated Press. Since then, Dixville Notch has gained international media attention as the first community to vote in the presidential primary season, since New Hampshire's primary is required by state law to be scheduled earlier than any competitor. Dixville Notch also votes at midnight in the general presidential election in November, although this usually attracts less press attention than primary voting.
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 (1898 – October 17, 2001), 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.
In 1992, the Libertarian Party unsuccessfully attempted to capitalize upon Andre Marrou's unexpectedly strong showing in Dixville Notch in the general election. In 2004, Democratic candidate Wesley Clark was the only contender to personally visit Dixville Notch. He was on hand when the votes were cast and counted, and he received the majority of Democratic votes cast. Clark placed third and received 13 percent of votes statewide.[citation needed]
The community's voting tradition received a nod in the 2002 third-season episode of US television program The West Wing, in an episode entitled "Hartsfield's Landing", named after a town clearly modeled on either Dixville Notch, or its companion, Hart's Location.
In 2008, Senator Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the community's vote in a presidential election since 1968, by a margin of 15 to 6.[5]
In 2012, the Dixville Notch result delivered a tie for the first time in its history, with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney receiving five votes each.
In 2016, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the community's vote, beating Republican candidate Donald Trump, 4 to 2. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received one vote. Mitt Romney received a single write-in vote. Eight people voted in total.[6]
In 2019, the community was at risk of losing its ability to conduct its own election and having to combine with another municipality for voting, as its population had been reduced to four people, one too few to hold all the positions needed to conduct an election in New Hampshire.[7] Dixville Notch received a reprieve before the primary when a fifth person, Les Otten, developer of The Balsams, agreed to move there in time for the election.[8]
When the community's five residents convened for the 2020 primary, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg received three votes as a write-in candidate. The other two votes went to Democrats Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders.[9][10]
In 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden won over incumbent Republican Donald Trump, winning the votes of all five of the community's voting residents.[11][12]
In 2024, presidential candidate Nikki Haley won unanimous support of all six voting age residents over former president Donald Trump during the New Hampshire GOP primary.[13]
Federal election results
The eventual nationwide winners for each contest are indicated in bold.
The community's voting tradition received a nod in the 2002 third-season episode of US television program The West Wing, in an episode entitled "Hartsfield's Landing", named after a town modeled on either Dixville Notch, or its companion, Hart's Location.
Hart's Location is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Since 1948, the town has frequently been one of the first places to declare its results for the New Hampshire presidential primary and U.S. presidential elections.
Dixville is a township in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4 as of the 2020 census, down from 12 at the 2010 census. In New Hampshire, locations, grants, townships, and purchases are unincorporated portions of a county which are not part of any town and have limited self-government.
The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest, the first being the Iowa caucuses, held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choosing the delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions which choose the party nominees for the presidential elections to be held in November. Although only a few delegates are chosen in the New Hampshire primary, its real importance comes from the massive media coverage it receives, along with the first caucus in Iowa.
A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be possible to win an election by winning a sufficient number of such write-in votes, which count equally as if the person were formally listed on the ballot.
New Hampshire Route 26 is a 30.860-mile-long (49.664 km) state highway located in northern New Hampshire. It runs across the state in a roughly northwest-to-southeast trajectory, stretching from the Vermont border in the west to the Maine border in the east. NH 26 is a multi-state route with both states.
The 2004 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Millsfield is a township in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. It is part of the Berlin, NH-VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 25 at the 2020 census.
"Hartsfield's Landing" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of The West Wing, an American serial political drama. The episode aired on February 27, 2002, on NBC. The episode takes its title from the fictional bellwether town that is central to the episode, which is holding an election that Josh Lyman wants to win for the president. "Hartsfield's Landing" also includes Toby Ziegler and Sam Seaborn playing chess matches against President Jed Bartlet, and C. J. Cregg involving herself in a prank war against Charlie Young. Allison Janney, who portrayed C. J., described the episode as one of her favorites. In 2020, the episode was reprised by the original cast in A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote.
The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel is a grand hotel and ski resort located in Dixville Notch in New Hampshire, United States. It has been closed since 2011. The resort grounds cover 11,000 acres (45 km2) and feature 95 km (59 mi) of cross-country ski trails, an alpine ski area with 16 trails, five glade areas and a terrain park. There is also a nine-hole golf course and an 18-hole championship course called "Panorama" which was designed by Donald Ross.
The 2008 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary on January 8, 2008 was the first primary in the United States in 2008. Its purpose was to determine the number of delegates from New Hampshire that would represent a certain candidate at the National Convention. In a primary, members of a political party—in this case, the Democratic Party—will select the candidates to a subsequent election. Since 1920, New Hampshire has always hosted the first primaries in the entire nation. The Democratic Party's primary occurred on the same day as the Republican primary.
The 2008 Democrats Abroad presidential primary took place from February 5, 2008 until February 12.
Neil E. Tillotson was the inventor of the modern production methods for latex balloons and latex gloves as well as the founder of Tillotson Rubber Company. Later, as a resident of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, he was the first voter in every American presidential primary and presidential election from the time he took residence there to his death in 2001.
The 2012 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. New Hampshire voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.
Dixville Notch State Park is a park in northern New Hampshire, United States. The park encompasses 127 acres (51 ha) in Dixville Township where New Hampshire State Route 26 passes through Dixville Notch.
The 2008 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2016 United States presidential election in New Hampshire was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. New Hampshire voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. New Hampshire has four electoral votes in the Electoral College.
The 2020 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary took place on February 11, 2020, as the second nominating contest in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, following the Iowa caucuses the week before. The New Hampshire primary was a semi-closed primary, meaning that only Democrats and independents were allowed to vote in this primary. New Hampshire sent 33 delegates to the national convention, of which 24 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary, and the other 9 were unpledged delegates preselected independently of the primary results.
The 2020 United States presidential election in New Hampshire was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. New Hampshire voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominees, incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, against the Democratic Party's nominees, former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. New Hampshire has four electoral votes in the Electoral College.
In New Hampshire, United States, the communities of Dixville Notch, Hart's Location, and Millsfield all vote at the midnight beginning election day, known as the New Hampshire midnight votes, on the day of the state's political party primaries and general elections, following a tradition that started to accommodate railroad workers who had to be at work before normal voting hours. The voting tradition has been followed in Dixville Notch since the 1960 presidential election, in Hart's Location from 1948 to 1964 and from 1996 to 2020, and in Millsfield in 2016 and 2020.
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