CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each won three votes in the small New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch, starting Election Day among the first places in the country where his presidential preference was reported.

The unincorporated township, located along the U.S.-Canada border in the northern tip of New Hampshire, opened and closed its poll just after midnight ET in a tradition dating back to 1960. Four Republicans and two black voters participated.

While Dixville Notch isn’t always predictive of the eventual winner — or even the state’s choice — its annual output, despite a dwindling population, is a success story for local leaders and a reason to smile for political junkies eager for a taste getting the day’s events.

Traditionally, all eligible voters gather at the now dormant Balsams Hotel in Dixville Notch cast their secret vote once the polls open at midnight. Once each ballot is cast, votes are counted and results are announced – hours earlier than anywhere else, making it a destination for national reporters, who often outnumber voters.

Les Otten, one of the township’s voters and the Balsams’ lead developer, called the early release of the results “a lesson in citizenship for the country,” adding that “if we can help people get out and understanding that voting is an important part of their right as an American citizen may be the key to what we do.”

Otten expects to break ground on the redevelopment project next summer. In the meantime, he said, “as long as we’re here and we’re property owners and we, you know, have our toothbrush in our bathrooms, we might as well exercise our right to vote.”

Nearby Millsfield and Hart’s Location, tucked into the White Mountains, first offered midnight voting before Dixville Notch, but has not participated continuously and is not conducting it this year. A fictionalized version of the three neighbors was featured in an episode of Aaron Sorkin’s “West Wing” called “Hartsfield’s Landing.”

Dixville Notch voters have supported the Democratic candidate in the last two presidential elections, with the township unanimously casting five votes for President Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton winning four of the seven votes in 2016 — two going to Trump and one to the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

In January, four registered Republican voters and two independents participated in the Republican Party’s primary, casting six unanimous votes for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Otten, 75, who said he has been “a Republican since I was seven years old,” told CNN before Tuesday’s vote that he would vote for Harris.

“Nowhere in the Pledge of Allegiance does it say anything about pledging allegiance to a person,” Otten said. “And I think Trump has ultimately made it clear that you have to pledge allegiance to him, and only he can fix this, and that’s as anti-democratic as I can understand.”

Voters also cast ballots in the nation’s most competitive gubernatorial race between former Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic candidate Joyce Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, to succeed retiring Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.

CNN’s Gary Tuchman Eva McKendEthan Cohen, Molly English, Gregory Krieg And Erik Bradner contributed to this report.