The Drunken Voter and the Drain: Seattle’s 1876 Election Reform Ideas

A gratifying feature was observable in the stillness and quiet that prevailed at the polls throughout the day. There was not a single brawl or disturbance of any kind. Instead, there was the deep, quiet deliberation of men who voted according to their own convictions of right. To the law prohibiting the sale of liquors on election day, is perhaps to be attributed a portion of the credit for this improvement. A still further change in our election law might be made for the better. In the statute prescribing the qualifications of voters, it is specified that 'no idiot or insane person, etc., shall be entitled to the privilege of an elector.' If this clause were amended by the insertion of the additional word 'drunken,' it would be a further step toward the purification of the ballot box and the refining of the hustings. It is not an edifying or dignified sight to see men dragged up to the polls so drunk that they do not know whether they are going to the polls to vote or to jail, and voting like machines. A second desirable reform is the division of our town polls into wards so as to facilitate the returns and prevent the overtasking of the inspectors and clerks. There is a great waste of time and nervous anxiety on the part of eager expectants which is equivalent to a partial deadlock of business until the result is decidedly known.