People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1895-05-03
CORRESPONDENCE.
Alabama Election Frauds.
Editor Peoples Party Paper:

W
nesses and the taking of testimony
in the case of Judge &C. Robin
son, Populist contestant, against
Gev. Geo. P. Harrison, Democratic
contestee, for a seat in the Fifty
fourth Congress from the Third con
gressional district of Alabama, has
been concluded.
The testimony of record shows
the greatest frauds of every con
ceivable character known to ballot
box manipulators or ballot box stuff
fers to have. been practiced.
will give you few methods OF
the Democratic bosses in the per-
petuation of frauds as appears on
record and developed from sworn
witnessef, and which stand undenied,
in our last election.
I will first explain how the cleo
ton managers and assistants are Sc
lected to serve.
In Alabama they have an official
board in each county composed OF
the sheriff, clerk, circuit court and
probate judge.
The law requires the official board
to give each political party a repre-
sentation by n anager or inspector
clerk and marker of tickets. They
have small enclosures called booths
within the poll.room, where each
voter Is required to 60 and prepare
his ballot before voting.
A marker of tickets is ore who is
selette by the managers or inspect
ors to take his place within those
booths, and there remain and mark
or fix ballots for the illiterate voters.
The voter who receives his ballot
from the marker receives it folded,
and has to vote it as received if he
votes at all.
Now, the Democratic machinery
which controls the appointing board,
and the board itself, in appointing
managers of the several beats
throughout the black belt portion of
the district, appointed two partisan
Dem ocratic managers to rep esent
the Democratic party and an igno-
rant gro, who could neither read
nor write, to represent the Populist
party and in every beat the man
ayers refused to allow or give the
Populjst party representation by a
fxer in the booths with the Demo
cratic fxer, or a marker of tickets to
see that abe illiterate voter got his
ticket or ballot fixed as he desired it
and not be swindled out of his vote.
They also refut ed TO give the Popu-
lists clerk in each beat. ~
SO it can be seen that it is no
trouble to swindle the honest voters
out of their votes through the
markers or fxers of tickets in this
State. The testimony of record will
show that prior to the election the
county registrars took their registra-
ton books and went from house to
house, farm to fam, and insisted
upon the negroes registering and be-
coming qualified voters before the
election. One negro manager testi-
fed that it took about an hour and
a-half for the two white bosses to
prepare and fix the poll-list after
the polls were closed, and the count
was finished before being signed up
as correct.
The managers in each beat are
furnished with registration list of
the qualified voters on election day,
and the poll list shows that the
names On said list had been copied
from the registration list as fur
nished. The poll list shows the
names TO appear alphabetically. A
great many with the first letter or
surname beginning with j, one right
after another, and letter M, N, A,
W, and so on.
The poll lists, without other evil
dence, is enough to press the Demo
cratic party OF Alabama out of ex-
istence.
The election frauds, as unea1thed
in the contest by Judge Robinson,
the contestant, have made many
honest Democrats blush with shame
and say, at wasn't us, and we could
not approve Of such methods" A
few others are bold enough TO say,
at was politics and was forced upon
us 10 save the party"
1t has always been the policy of
the Democratic party to discourage
the negro in becoming a qualified
voter and a prominent factor in
elections in the South, but in this
State nv raliey OF the Democratic
party, as shown by tho testimony, is
10 force the negro into politics, ifa-l
lily him as a voter, and then get him
ssassX at home on election day, but
Ame time stuff the ballot. box
and count it for their
emocrats in Alabama
his in order to save
= great majority |