John Kasich and Bernie Sanders received early boosts in New Hampshire early on Tuesday morning, when each was declared the primary winner in the tiny town of Dixville Notch.
Nine people cast their votes in the northern New Hampshire town just after midnight. The voting was over by around 20 seconds past 12. When the votes were counted, around three minutes later, Ohio governor Kasich was declared the Republican winner, beating Donald Trump by three votes to two.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders won Dixville Notch by a landslide. He received four votes compared with Hillary Clinton’s zero.
Both candidates’ momentum was checked minutes later, however, when the larger town of Millsfield declared Texas senator Ted Cruz the Republican victor, while Clinton triumphed over Sanders.
Dixville Notch has been known since 1964 as the first New Hampshire town to vote. It has become a tradition for nation’s media to descend on the town to cover the results of the ballot.
This year Dixville Notch had competition, however, with two other towns, Millsfield and Hart’s Location, also voting at midnight.
Millsfield, just 12 miles (19km) south, dwarfs Dixville Notch in population terms, with 21 registered voters. The more populous town declared its results minutes after Dixville Notch.
There Cruz won nine votes, with Trump second on three. Kasich, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina each received one vote.
Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who suspended his presidential campaign after a disappointing result in Iowa, also received one vote.
Clinton won a remarkable 66.6% of the Democratic vote. She received two votes to Sanders’ one.
Millsfield began the practice of midnight voting in 1954, but abandoned it decades ago, reinstating it only this year.
Hart’s Location, two hours’ drive south, reintroduced midnight voting in 1996. This time, Kasich won again, although it was a closer call. Five people voted for Kasich while Trump came second with four votes.
Sanders won the Democratic vote with 12 votes to Clinton’s seven.
Dixville Notch began its midnight voting habit in 1960. Businessman Neil Tillotson – who had bought the Balsams hotel resort there in 1954, when there was no polling station in the town – lobbied to enable Dixville Notch to cast its own vote and to ensure midnight voting privileges.
Thereafter Tillotson became known as the first person to vote in presidential elections and in state primaries. According to numerous press reports, he would hold his paper over the ballot box while looking at his watch, dropping his vote as the clock struck 12.
In the 2016 election, the proximity of Dixville Notch and Millsfield, and the latter’s revival of the early voting tradition, has led to lighthearted competition between the two towns.
Despite Dixville Notch being better known for its midnight voting, Millsfield residents have been invoking their town’s history to poke fun at their neighbours.
“We actually did midnight voting many years before Dixville thought of it,” said Wayne Urso, Millsfield’s selectman.
“But we don’t mind if Dixville wants to pull on our coat-tails a little bit.”
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