The 'Citizens' Ticket' Plot in San Juan County
A Friday Harbor editor claims Democrats and Populists will skip their own nominations, then run a fusion slate disguised as a nonpartisan citizens' ticket.
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.
The Republican has been reliably informed that there will not be any nominations at the Pop convention to be held the 15th on Shaw's Island. The picnic will adjourn without naming a ticket. The Democratic convention will meet and adjourn without making any nominations. Then the two will join forces and nominate a ticket which they will christen a 'citizens' ticket,' and the wolf will then go before the public in sheep's clothing claiming their suffrage—posing as the champions of the rights of the 'dear people.' This is a trick concocted by Hugh Wallace, promulgated by Collector Saunders and acquiesced in by all the small fry of both the Democratic and Populist parties of San Juan county.
“The wolf will then go before the public in sheep's clothing, claiming their suffrage—posing as the champions of the rights of the 'dear people.'”
Fusion tickets and 'nonpartisan' slates are still a tactic in Washington politics, often used to blur party labels in local races. The San Juan County accusation is a reminder that ballot-line engineering and claims of a 'citizens' ticket' are not new.
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