The Great Vote Fraud Scandal: How Federal Officials 'Colonized' Portland Voters to Steal Washington's Delegate Seat
In the wake of the 1876 presidential election, a local Democratic paper exposes a brazen scheme by Republican Governor Frederick Ferry and Collector of the Port William Scott to ferry voters from Vancouver, WA, across the river to Portland, OR, to swing the territorial delegate race in favor of Judge Jacobs.
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.
That little speech When we heard that Judge Jacobs had gone to Portland, to make a speech in favor of Hayes and Wheeler, about a fortnight ago, we thought it was merely a good piece of book-making up on the rat-e for the delegateship. We regarded it as “hedging out” for another Federal appointment in the event of his defeat by Mr. Judson. It seems, however, to have been a carefully laid scheme on the part of the Republican Commanders, headed by Governor Ferry, to “colonize
This 1876 account of cross-border voter fraud mirrors modern anxieties about election integrity and gerrymandering. The accusation that federal officials used their power to manipulate local outcomes resonates with contemporary debates over voting rights and the influence of centralized government on local elections.
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