Ghosts in the Voting Booth: Election Fraud Suspected in Tacoma
Registration rolls are found to be packed with names of men who don't exist and addresses that aren't there, raising alarms of election rigging.
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An investigation of the registration books brings to light what looks very much like an attempt to stuff the lists for the purpose of getting in some crooked work at the coming election. Parties claiming to have lived here more than two years have registered under names that cannot be found in the city directory, and street numbers are given that do not exist. A number have registered and given as their permanent residence what has been found to be transient boarding houses. For example, George Lewin gave his residence as 1328 Pacific Avenue, which is the Board of Trade saloon; however, inquiries revealed no such person was known there. Similarly, others listed 1401 Pacific Avenue, a transient rooming house, and others provided non-existent street numbers.
“An investigation of the registration books brings to light what looks very much like an attempt to stuff the lists.”
Concerns over voter integrity and registration rolls are a persistent feature of American political life, echoing here in a 1904 Tacoma municipal contest. It highlights how quickly a city's political identity can become a battleground over who is 'entitled' to participate in civic governance.
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