Hillary Clinton has secured her first victory of the presidential election, winning the vote in Dixville Notch, the township iconic for being the first to declare. Despite Dixville Notch’s electorate consisting of only eight voters, Hillary Clinton was the clear winner, with four votes to Donald Trump’s two. Clinton’s victory in the tiny township isn’t all that much of a surprise, however, considering Dixville Notch voted for Obama in 2008.
According to the Daily Mail , Hillary Clinton secured her victory with just under half of the vote. In comparison, Donald Trump only managed to pick up the support of two members of the town’s electorate, whilst another voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. However, perhaps the biggest surprise from Dixville Notch is that one member of the township’s electorate cast a written-in vote for Mitt Romney. Romney, of course, was the Republican party’s candidate in 2012 and famously lost to incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama.
By a margin of 4 votes to 2, @HillaryClinton has won Dixville Notch https://t.co/cgdZpOYpVS | AP Photo pic.twitter.com/NyIPFYo23m
— POLITICO (@politico) November 8, 2016
Whilst Dixville Notch typically swings towards the Republicans, the town’s electorate has in the past been pretty consistently split between the two candidates. Donald Trump, however, was expected to secure the small New Hampshire town’s votes in 2016, especially considering its electorate of only two women and seven men.
That being said, Clinton’s success could be attributed to the popularity of her predecessor, Barack Obama, in the sleepy little community. According to the Telegraph , Obama secured a clear victory in 2008, managing to pick up fifteen votes to his Republican rival John McCain’s six. Obama has, of course, been campaigning hard for Hillary Clinton, who previously served as his secretary of state, in 2016. It appears that a strong endorsement from Obama was enough to give the residents of Dixville Notch a good enough reason to vote for Clinton.
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Much like other small townships in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the votes in Dixville Notch were cast, counted and tallied within a matter of minutes. The way in which the residents of Dixville Notch vote is still very traditional. With no high-tech voting machines in sight, each member of the electorate cast their vote on a paper ballot, whilst an iPhone was used to mark the opening of the ballot at midnight.
Whilst Dixville Notch was once again the first in the nation to announce their results, a number of other small townships across New Hampshire cast their votes at midnight and announced shortly afterwards. Hillary Clinton also secured a victory in Hart’s Location, with seventeen votes to Trump’s fourteen. However, Donald Trump was the clear winner in Millsfield, where he managed to secure sixteen votes to Hillary Clinton’s four. A number of other small townships across the region also cast their votes in the early hours before closing the polls.
Voting in Dixville Notch NH—Kennedy vs. Nixon–November 1960: #UPI pic.twitter.com/FDrOcW9DOV
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) November 8, 2016
Responsible for supervising the polling was Tom Tillotson, 71, whilst Mr. Tilloston remained impartial during the counting process, he cast his own vote for Gary Johnson, saying “I was extremely disappointed with the Republicans’ choice of nominee. I could not support his stand on issues such as immigration or trade and I could not support Hillary Clinton.”
Many of the settlement’s other citizens hold a similar view of Donald Trump so instead chose to cast their vote in support of Hillary Clinton.
It’s worth remembering that the result in Dixville Notch isn’t always representative of the national result. In 1960, Richard Nixon won all of the town’s votes but ultimately lost the election.
[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
