Shuttered resort still plans to host New Hampshire voters

The nearly 150-year-old Balsams resort in Dixville Notch, N.H. closed in September 2011, but it will host midnight voting in 2016.

|
David Goldman/AP/File
Barbara Hilliard, of Santee, S.C., puts a campaign sticker on her blouse as she waits for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton to speak during a campaign stop in Santee, S.C. A shuttered hotel in New Hampshire where the nation's first presidential primary ballots have been traditionally cast will once again host midnight voting in 2016, according to developers working to overhaul and expand the historic resort.

A shuttered hotel where the nation's first presidential primary ballots have been traditionally cast will once again host midnight voting in 2016, according to developers working to overhaul and expand the historic resort.

The nearly 150-year-old Balsams resort in Dixville Notch closed in September 2011, and its new owners are still waiting for environmental permits to move ahead with extensive restoration plans, which include a new hotel and conference center and a larger ski area. That has raised questions about the fate of the primary voting tradition, but project spokesman Scott Tranchemontagne said the goal is to have a portion of the resort's Dix House ready for the February primary.

"The desire is to continue the tradition of voting first in the first-in-the-nation primary," he said. "We believe that it's important not only for Dixville but for all of the North Country and quite frankly, for the state of New Hampshire. This voting tradition in Dixville has garnered a great deal of attention for not only the Balsams but for the region and the state."

If Dix House isn't ready, voting also could be held in Hale House, another building on the property that most recently served as the chef's quarters, he said.

"The beauty of the ballot room is that while it did have its dedicated location inside the Dix House, all the elements are mobile — the flags, the ballot boxes, the voting booths themselves, all the memorabilia — all that stuff has been preserved and has been in safekeeping for a few years," he said.

Dixville shares midnight voting with Hart's Location, a small town in the White Mountains that started the early voting tradition in 1948 to accommodate railroad workers who had to be at work before normal voting hours. Hart's Location suspended the midnight voting in 1964 and brought it back in 1996. Eager for some of the spotlight, Balsams owner Neil Tillotson arranged for early voting at the hotel by having Dixville incorporated in 1960 solely for voting.

In 2012, the hotel opened for one night for the presidential primary. Mitt Romney and Jon Hunstman tied for first place on the GOP side with two votes apiece, and Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul each got one vote. For the Democrats, President Barack Obama received three votes.

None of the 2016 presidential hopefuls has visited the hotel this year, but Tranchemontagne said several have expressed interested. He said there likely will be 10 or so resort workers living on the property by February who could vote.

Meanwhile, the tiny town of Millsfield next door to Dixville also plans to open its polls at midnight for its approximately 20 voters. According to news reports, the community voted at midnight in 1952, but never made it a tradition.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Shuttered resort still plans to host New Hampshire voters
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0907/Shuttered-resort-still-plans-to-host-New-Hampshire-voters
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe