In the first vote in the 2000 presidential election, registered voters of this small mountain hamlet overwhelmingly voted Tuesday for Republican George W. Bush.
Held in the "ballot room" of the Balsam Grand Hotel, the election just after midnight Monday yielded 21 votes for Bush and his running mate Richard Cheney.
Five votes for Democrats Al Gore and his running mate Joseph Lieberman.
Only one vote was cast for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, a hotel spokeswoman said.
Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan got zero votes, she added.
This small locality of 31 registered voters is the first to file its election results, since a state law allows any locality to close its polls once all its registered voters have cast their ballots.
Results were also expected soon from Hart, another New Hampshire village that holds its elections very early.
Despite Bush's landslide in this tiny, picturesque community, the result does not reflect the race for president at the national level, where the Texas governor has a slight lead over the vice president in the latest opinion polls, but not big enough to overcome the margins of error.
In a statistical dead heat, Bush and Gore ended a fever-pitched last day of campaigning in Texas and Florida respectively -- DIXVILLE NOTCH (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
