Residents of the small US town of Dixville Notch kicked off Election Day in the early minutes of Tuesday with a tied result, reflecting the extremely close national polling in the race for the White House.
In this tiny New Hampshire community, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each received three votes during a tradition that has started Election Day at midnight for decades—hours ahead of polling stations across the rest of the country.
The current Democratic vice president and former Republican president are engaged in a fiercely competitive and tightly contested election, with surveys showing them nearly even.
The voting commenced in front of a crowd of reporters, accompanied by a performance of the US national anthem on the accordion.
New Hampshire’s electoral regulations permit towns with less than 100 residents to open their polling places at midnight and to close them once all registered voters have cast their ballots.
In the 2020 election, Dixville Notch’s electorate unanimously supported Joe Biden, marking it as only the second time in history that a candidate received all votes in this midnight voting tradition from 1960.
Most polling locations on the East Coast will begin operations on Tuesday at 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. (1100 or 1200 GMT).
Earlier this year, voters in Dixville Notch surprised many by giving Republican candidate Nikki Haley a unanimous victory in the New Hampshire primary.
Haley eventually withdrew from the race because Trump had an overwhelming lead, but Tuesday’s votes indicate that three voters chose not to support the billionaire in the general election.