commonwealth is a privilege — but it ’s also kind of a pain in the ass in the butt . It involves long lines , an avalanche of fliers , and the lingering smell of baked ziti in public school day cafeteria ( or maybe the ziti is only at my polling station ? ) .
But be thankful . In 100 past , voting was n’t just a metaphorical pain sensation . It was a real one . look at the vulgar 19th - century tradition called “ cooping ” : Party thugs would snatch a voter , get him intoxicated , then make him vote multiple times , often disguising him in dissimilar clothes and wigs .
It sounds like fun and games , but it was anything but . If the voter did n’t comply , he was beaten or vote out . Though the grounds is far from certain , some think Edgar Allan Poe was obliterate in a cooping incident . ( He was find in a state of delirium on Election Day in 1849 , wearing an un- Poe - same straw lid . He go bad soon after . )
In New York City , the best - bonk election riggers were from the notoriously corrupt Tammany Hall simple machine . One Tammany thug recounted a strategy for vote four clip — once with a full beard , then with mutton chops , followed by only a mustache , and finally , totally fair - faced . Around the same time , Andrew Gumbel writes inSteal This Vote , Philadelphia ’s Gas Ring gang cram up votes from dead people , fancied characters , and pets .
If you did make it to the polls , cast the balloting itself was something of a rough-and-tumble , as historiographer Jill Lepore channelise out inThe New Yorkerin 2008 . For fledgeling , you had to fetch your own voting . You had to write your candidate ’s name correctly ( writeJohninstead ofJonand your balloting was tossed ) . In fact , our forefather regarded cloak-and-dagger balloting with mistrust , fence that they made voting for selfish pursuit too easy . Some United States Department of State even required oral votes — you had to say your candidate ’s name loud and proud .
On the upside , if you were shy , it was easy to discover some liquid courage come ballot day . Even George Washington knew the importance of getting voters whole wasted . When he guide for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758 , he provided voter with 28 gallons of rum , 50 gallons of rum punch , 34 gallon of wine , 46 Imperial gallon of beer , and two gallons of heavy cider , which amount to about a half - gallon of booze per elector . He was n’t alone . get voters sauce was so common , it had a name : “ swilling the planter with bumbo . ” ( Bumbo was a rum cocktail . ) William Henry Harrison went so far as to knight himself the “ heavy cyder candidate ” and fetch barrel of cyder to parades for attendees to sop up .
Even working at the polls was a risky enterprise . Election officials were dependent to snatch , Gumbel write , and even take in their coffee spiked with laxative “ so they would be otherwise engaged during the most important phase of the count . ”
My hope is that one day we ’ll vote fuss - free online . Yes , there ’s a risk of hack — but no smell of leftovers .
