The Price of a Vote in Tacoma
Corruption and 'barrel' politics clash in a heated Republican primary, as anti-Bennett factions fight back against organized vote-buying.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Nelson Bennett was turned down at the Republican county primaries tonight. The strength of the anti-Bennett faction was clearly shown by the fact that Bennett's bolters did not carry the precincts conceded to them. In the Tacoma Hotel precinct, Bennett made his stand and was routed by the Republicans of that precinct. This was the precinct which Bennett's private secretary, Blackwood, was to carry. It was in this precinct that Bennett is credited with spending much of his money; at half past 6, the bolters set the price of votes at $3.50. Bulldozing tactics by the Bennett faction caused much indignation, with street talk suggesting Boss Bolter Bennett opened his barrel with $1,000 to sway the results. In some precincts, repeaters voted five times, marching from place to place and exchanging coats to evade detection, while prominent Republicans had their votes challenged by the Bennett faction.
“At half past 6, the bolters set the price of votes at $3.50.”
This account of local political 'bossism' and the open buying of votes in 1892 illustrates the era of machine politics that reformers would spend the next two decades trying to dismantle. It serves as a reminder that the integrity of the ballot box has been a central, hard-fought civic struggle in Washington since statehood.
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