All six primary voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, cast their ballots in favor of Nikki Haley early Tuesday morning.
“A great start to a great day in New Hampshire,” the former South Carolina governor wrote shortly after the tally was recorded. “Thank you Dixville Notch!”
The village’s tradition of being the first in state to declare its primary results dates back to 1960. Voters gather at the Balsams Hotel around midnight to cast their votes.
The town’s Republican primary winner has gone on to lead the party’s bid for the White House in every election between 1968 and 2012.
“I wasn’t sure she would do it but I’m so excited,” a first-time Dixville Notch primary voter told the New York Times after the results were read. “We did not tell each other who we were voting for, so I wasn’t sure. But I’m really excited she did it.”
Another expressed the need for new candidates. “My one vote isn’t going to swing anything, but maybe how we vote might give people some alternatives,” a septuagenarian told the Times, expressing frustration at another Biden and Trump showdown.
On Election Day 2020, Joe Biden swept the town, making him the first presidential candidate to do so since Richard Nixon in 1960. Lee Otten, the owner of the Balsams Resort, was happy with the vote’s outcome.
Lifelong #Republican Les Otten to Cast First Vote at Midnight in Dixville Notch for #Democrat @JoeBiden #ElectionDay #Election2020 #NHpolitics # pic.twitter.com/YakXzDMytr
— Dixville Vote (@DixvilleVote) November 2, 2020
“It’s special. It really is,” Otten told the Associated Press. “It’s what ought to happen in every community in the United States, where there is 100% participation, everybody votes. None of the six of us can complain about the outcome of the election, because we’ve participated.”
Otten broke with the Republican Party in 2020, voting in favor of Biden. “I’m a lifelong Republican voting for Joe Biden,” he told reporters in a viral video after casting his ballot. “I don’t agree with him on a lot of issues, but I believe it’s time to find what unites us, not divides us.”