First Election Day votes cast at midnight -- and it's a tie in Dixville Notch
By: NBC News
Updated: November 6, 2012
Donna Kaye Erwin posts the results after the 10 registered voters in the village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, cast the first Election Day ballots of the U.S. presidential election moments after midnight on Tuesday.
Updated at 3:25 a.m. ET: DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. -- Residents of two tiny villages in northern New Hampshire headed to the polls at midnight, casting the first Election Day votes in the nation.
After 43 seconds of voting, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney each had 5 votes in Dixville Notch.
In Hart's Location, Obama had won with 23 votes, Romney received 9 and Libertarian Gary Johnson received 1 vote. Thirty-three votes were cast in 5 minutes, 42 seconds.
The towns have been enjoying their first-vote status since 1948 and it's a matter of pride to get everyone to the polls.
Hart's Location Selectman Mark Dindorf says you could call it a friendly competition to see who gets votes tallied first, although he says Hart's Location is a town and Dixville Notch is a precinct.
Obama and Romney raced through seven battleground states on the final day of campaigning to hammer home their final themes, urge supporters to get to the polls and woo the last remaining undecided voters.
Romney planned to vote at home in Massachusetts on Tuesday morning before a final trip to Ohio and Pennsylvania, a Democratic-leaning state that he has tried to put in play in recent weeks.
Obama, who voted in October, will spend the day at his home in Chicago.
