Midnight Voting a Tradition : The Road to the White House Starts in This Precinct

As they head for the polls Tuesday morning, Americans from Maine to Hawaii will already know how residents of this tiny New Hampshire hamlet cast their ballots.

That’s because Dixville Notchers vote first--at the stroke of midnight--and every four years the national media return to this remote mountain area to record the event.

In less than 10 minutes--the time it takes for the town’s 34 voters to enter their private voting booths, mark their ballots and have them counted--results of the presidential contest will be relayed by journalists and photographers from newspapers, television networks and wire services. (Other races and ballot issues are tabulated later.)

As he has done every election year since 1960, millionaire Neil Tillotson, 89, is expected to cast the first vote in this town 20 miles southeast of the Canadian border.

Tillotson, who moved here in 1952, has the honor because he is town moderator and the man responsible for getting Dixville Notch incorporated. That means residents can vote locally instead of driving many miles through mountainous terrain to the nearest polling place.

Primary and General Elections

It was Tillotson who decided that voting at the stroke of midnight would put Dixville Notch on the map and make it the best-known small town in the country. The nighttime voting occurs twice every four years, for the primary and general elections.

“Each one of us has his or her own polling booth to get the job done as quickly as we can,” said John Carroll, 53, maitre d’ at the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, the town’s polling place. “My wife, Ruth, can’t vote in my booth and I can’t vote in hers. Each voting booth is used only once and then put away in storage until the next election.”

The Balsams Hotel was bankrupt and in decline when Tillotson bought it and began restoring its former elegance. Inventor of the latex balloon, he also built a home on the hotel grounds and the world’s largest rubber surgical glove factory nearby.

Room Is a Shrine

Voters gather at the 115-year-old mansion shortly before midnight to cast their votes in the second-floor Ballot Room, now set aside as a shrine. The 15,000-acre resort, a favorite hideaway for wealthy Easterners, is open from mid-May to mid-October, and from Dec. 16 through April 1 for the skiing season.

Each voting booth is draped in red, white and blue bunting and placed on the burgundy carpeting in the Ballot Room which has rough-hewn log walls and an enormous stone fireplace. Decorating the walls are photographs of presidential candidates who have campaigned here during the primaries and framed newspaper stories about how Dixville Notch voted.

After casting their ballots, voters adjourn to a banquet room to enjoy refreshments.

“Voting each presidential year is our fleeting moment of fame,” said Frank Nash, 76, a dairy farmer who lives a mile from the hotel. “Every time we vote, we’re on TV and get our pictures in the newspapers.”

Absentee Votes

Nash, Cora Whitten, 89, who managed the hotel laundry until 1982, and Tillotson, haven’t missed voting since 1960. If they plan to be out of town, voters send in absentee ballots. In Dixville Notch, the voter turnout is always 100%.

Of the town’s 47 residents, 19 are registered Republicans, 6 are Democrats and 9 are independents. One adult isn’t registered, 11 are too young to vote, and one is a British subject. As a result, the town often goes with the Republican candidate in the general elections; Richard Nixon made a clean sweep here in 1960.

In this year’s primary election, Dixville Notch voters cast 3 ballots for Paul Simon, 4 for Richard Gephardt, 5 for Jack Kemp, 1 for Pat Robertson, 11 for George Bush, 6 for Robert Dole, 2 for Peter DuPont, and 2 for Alexander Haig. Independents may vote Republican or Democrat in New Hampshire primaries.

Dixville Notch is a small valley in the narrow mountain pass embraced by towering cliffs. Northern New Hampshire is dotted with many such notches or narrow passes. In addition to the hotel, its 27-hole golf course and the glove factory, there is room enough for Lake Gloriette, a few acres of farmland and half a dozen houses and apartments.

Although the resort hotel and glove factory each employs 400 workers, almost all live in surrounding communities. There are no schools or stores (other than in the hotel), and there is no town hall, police or fire department. The annual town meeting in March is conducted in the glove factory. Elected officials include the town moderator, clerk and three selectmen.