First returns: Bush wins -- sort of

Published November 2, 2004 4:05PM (EST)

The first reported election results of the day should put a smile on the faces of the Kerry team, even though both small New Hampshire towns have voted Republican again.

The early numbers come to us from Hart's Location and Dixville Notch, tiny hamlets that take advantage of New Hampshire's law allowing polling stations to close if all registered residents have cast their votes. In Hart's Location, Bush got 16 votes, Kerry 14 and Ralph Nader one. Soon after, Dixville Notch reported that 19 had gone for Bush and 7 for Kerry.

But in 2000, Bush won Hart's Location 17-13; so in the past four years, Bush lost one vote to Kerry, and a Nader voter moved to town. In Dixville Notch, Bush won in 2000 with 21 votes to Gore's five and Nader's one. So that community has seen the loss of a Nader voter -- perhaps he or she moved to Hart's Location -- and two Bush votes added to the Kerry column.


By Rebecca Traister

Rebecca Traister writes for Salon. She is the author of "Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women" (Free Press). Follow @rtraister on Twitter.

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