The Rush to the Ballot Box
Thirteen Russian immigrants naturalized in a single evening to meet the city registration deadline, allegedly bankrolled by a local political machine.
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.
A desire to vote at the coming city election caused thirteen natives of Russia who have lived in Walla Walla for years to take out their final naturalization papers late Saturday night. Immediately after being declared full-fledged American citizens, they filed up to the city clerk's office and registered. In all, fourteen persons were naturalized Saturday, being the biggest day's business in that line ever to come before the county clerk's office. Those who were naturalized were: Henry Benzel, Henry Swartzcop, Jacob Harding, Chris Amend, Conrad Schiffner, John Linker, Conrad Reall, Henry Shierman, Jacob Gradwohl, Henry Schiffner, Jacob Starkell, Henry Homberg, Philip Blain—all natives of Russia—and George Dodd, a native of England. It is said the fees for their final papers were paid by the Burford-Smails machine.
“A desire to vote at the coming city election caused thirteen natives of Russia who have lived in Walla Walla for years to take out their final naturalization papers late Saturday night.”
This story highlights the long-standing role of political machines in facilitating or coercing immigrant voter mobilization. Today, the debate over citizenship and voting rights continues to mirror the tension between civic participation and partisan influence seen in Walla Walla in 1903.
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