225
For the most part, the Australian ballot
“printed and distributed at public expense”; (2) ballots contain the names of all is credited with delivering “a blow against
nominated candidates; (3) ballots are dis- clientelism,” Stokes, supra, at 241, and
tributed “only by ... election officers at ending “direct bribery and intimidation.”
the polling place”; and (4) “detailed provi- Fredman, supra, at 129; see Burson, 504
sions” are made for physical arrangements
U.S. at 204, 112 S.Ct. 1846' (“The success
to ensure secrecy when casting a vote. Id. achieved through thesé reforms was immeat 46. In 1888, Louisville, Kentucky be- diately ' noticed and widely praised.”).
came the first American city to adopt the Nevertheless, although thé Australian balAustralian ballot, and in November 1889, lot drastically reduced incentives to resort
Massachusetts was the first to use it state- to vote buying, it did not eradicate the
wide. Id. at 31, 36-39; Lepore, supra. phenomenon entirely. For example, in
New Hampshire has used the Australian Adams County, Ohio, vote buying was able
ballot since 1891. Legislative History at to persist due to the “relative smallness” of
000062.
the area. See Fabrice Lehoucq, When
drastically Does a Market for Votes Emerge?, in
The
Australian
ballot
changed the utility of bribing voters be- Elections for Sale: The Causes and Consecause party workers could no longer moni- quences of Vote Buying 33, 38 (Frederic C.
tor how voters voted. See Fredman, su- Schaffer ed., 2007). There, in 1910, the
pra, at 47. Professor L.E. Fredman used “price of a vote oscillated between a drink
the differences between the 1888 and 1892 of whisky and US$25, with the average
presidential elections to highlight the ef- price being US$8 per vote....” Id. (citing
fect. See id. at 83. Both elections fea- Genevieve B. Gist, Progressive
Reform in
tured Republican Benjamin Harrison a Rural Community: The Adams County
against Democrat Grover Cleveland, but in Vote-Fraud Case, 48 Miss. Valley Historithe interim, 38 states had adopted the cal Rev. 60, 62-63 (1961), http://www.jstor.
Australian ballot. Id. In 1888, the treasurorg/stable/1902404). Similarly, due to ruer of the Republican National Committee ral populations with high poverty rates,
instructed local officials: “Divide the floa- “vote buying remained endemic well into
ters in blocks of five, .and put a trusted
the twentieth century” in many southern
man, with necessary funds, in charge of
states.' Stokes, supra, at 229.
these five, and make them responsible that
Although “isolated. and anachronistic,”
none get away.” Id. at 22. Although the
continue to be some reports of vote
there
memorandum exposed the extent of brib■in the twenty-first century.
buying
election,
ery during that
Benjamin Harrison was elected. In the 1892 election, by Stokes, supra, at 231. For example, there
contrast, “[tjhere seemed to be more factu- have been recent prosecutions for violaal argument and fewer noisy processions, tions of federal vote-buying statutes in
and the day itself was generally quiet and Kentucky, North Carolina, and Illinois.
orderly.” Id. at 83; see also Stokes, su- See United States v. Thomas, 510 F.3d
pra, at 228 (“Historians also note the ris- 714, 717 (7th Cir.2007); United States v.
ing importance of party platforms in the Shatley, 448 F.3d 264, 265 (4th Cir.2006);
United States v. Johnson, No. 5:11-cr-143,
late nineteenth century, another sign that
2012
WL 3610254, at *1 (E.D.Ky. Aug. 21,
vote buying was yielding to electoral strat2012);
Stokes, supra, at 231. None of
egies that, in [Theodore] Hoppen’s phrase,
cases,
however, involved the use of a
‘depended upon words.’”) (quoting Theo- these
dore K. Hoppen, The Mid-Victorian Gen- digital or photographic image of a marked
eration: me-1886 (2000)).
ballot.