These Historic Elections Were Tainted by Fraud and Voter Irregularities

7. Political parties led to the manipulation of voters and outright voter fraud

America’s founders did not envision the development of partisan political parties in the United States, and the Constitution was not designed to accommodate a party system. As originally written the offices of President and Vice-President were to be filled by the two leading candidates in an election, who were likely to hold opposing views on several issues. The debate over ratification led to the development of groups, one of which supported a powerful federal government, the other to the bulk of power remaining with the states.

The emergence of political parties during the second administration of George Washington led to changes in the electoral system throughout the country. The party in power in local elections dictated how the elections were to be run, how long the polls were to be open, who could vote when they showed up at the polls, the design of ballots once they came into use, and how the ballots were counted. Beginning with the election of John Adams party members altered the results of voters at the polls in a variety of ways, which by the middle of the 19^th century had become a science.