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Franklin Pierce Students witness first vote cast in 2008 Election
by Casey Williams
Exchange Staff
Tanner Tillotson waited anxiously at the head of the line to put his ballot into the box. The 20-year-old, voting for the first time, had long blonde hair and wore black dress pants, a white dress shirt and a black tie. He was waiting to cast the first vote of the 2008 Presidential Election.
To his right, news cameras were rolling, and behind him were the 20 other registered voters of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Dixville Notch is the first place to vote in the United States on Election Day. It has been opening its polls to residents at midnight since 1960. A Democratic candidate hasn't won the majority of votes there since 1968, but seeing Tillotson at the front of the line gave a sense that this election would produce different results.
"At approximately 11:45 p.m. we pick the first voter out of a hat. They enter the ballot room and each person gets their own ballot box where they wait until the stroke of midnight to cast their vote. It's a tradition," said Rick Irwin, Dixville town clerk.
Ten Franklin Pierce students were present for the official start of Election Day 2008. They traveled to Dixville Notch to see the first ballot cast at midnight for the 44th President of the United States.
"It was exciting to see the beginning of the Democratic Process," said sophomore Andrew Berger. Berger made the five-hour trip from Rindge to the base of the White Mountains with nine other student-journalists and two Graduate-Assistants from the Fitzwater Center.
Dixville was the first stop of the group's two-day tour of New Hampshire polling stations. They traveled the state to get footage for HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports: Election Night 2008," and for FPTV-25's "Politically Speaking" Election Night Special. From Dixville, the group traveled south to Littleton, Gilford, Concord, Manchester, Peterborough, and Rindge.
"I voted for Barack Obama,"
revealed Tillotson. "I feel he's more in touch with the youth voters."
Obama won in Dixville Notch by 15 votes to 6. The ballots were counted
immediately after the polls closed at 12:01 a.m., and the results were
revealed at 12:03 a.m.
Tillotson is an engineering student at McGill University
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He registered to vote at the polls earlier
that night. It was determined that he would be the first voter by picking
numbers out of a hat.
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Tanner Tillotson, first voter in the 2008 election.
(Photo: Associated Press)