out of the means of earning a livelihood. Frequently the owner and the manager of the mill stood at the entrance of the polling-place and closely observed the employees while they voted.[1] In this condition, it cannot be said that the workingmen exercised any real choice. The need of a secret ballot to protect debtors and the laboring class was especially urgent.
A third consequence of the non-secret ballot was the opportunity it gave for fraud, particularly the stuffing of the ballot box. By this the writer does not mean to imply that it was responsible for such frauds as the false-bottom ballot box, but the failure to provide an official ballot gave a great opportunity for an elector to deposit more than one ballot. This was particularly true of the thin or tissue-paper ticket, where one or two smaller ballots could be folded inside a larger one without an outsider being able to tell that there was more than one ticket being deposited.[2] Yet the inside ballot could be so folded that it would fall out if the outer ballot was shaken a little when it was being voted, or if a friendly judge would materially assist by shaking the box, before it was opened to count the votes.
This evil was recognized, and it was commonly provided that ballots found folded or rolled together should not be counted. Since skilful manipulation could separate these double votes, it was generally required by statute that, “If after having opened or canvassed the ballots, it shall be found that the whole number of them exceeds the whole number of
- ↑ This policy of intimidation is well stated in an article which appeared in the Boston Herald: “There will be a good deal of ‘bull-dozing’ down in Massachusetts this year of a civilized type. The laborers employed by General Butler in his various enterprises—mills, quarries, etc.—will be expected to vote for him or to give up their situations. The same rule will hold good on the other side. There will be no shotguns or threats. Everything will be managed with decorum, adorned with noble sentiments. But the men who oppose Butler employ three-fourths, if not seven-eighths, of the laborers of the state. They honestly believe that Butler’s election would injure their property. They know that idle hands are waiting to do their work. It is not the be expected that they will look on indifferently and see their employees vote for a destructive like Butler. Human nature is much the same in Massachusetts and Mississippi. Only methods are different. Brains, capital, and enterprise will tell in any community. It is very improper to intimidate voters, but there is a way of giving advice that is most convincing” (Forty-sixth Congress, second session, Senate Report 497, pp. 2–3).
- ↑ Almost all the contested elections during this time bear witness to this abuse. In the case of Mackey v. O’Connor (Forty-sixth Congress, first session, Congressional Record, XIII, No. 5, p. 4334) tables were submitted showing that in the Second Congressional District in South Carolina there were 36,248 persons who voted and 42,537 ballots were found in the boxes at the close of the election.
