With all the legislation about voter integrity, it seems worthwhile to look at voting practices over the years to see how past generations tackled the issue of fair elections.
What we find is that both voting technology and the systems used to ensure election integrity have evolved significantly. From public voice voting to modern electronic systems, each stage of development reflects efforts to improve accuracy, accessibility, and fairness while preventing fraud, such as double voting.
In the very beginning, when America was in its infancy, voting was done publicly, simply by declaring your vote aloud in a public area like the courthouse steps. The idea was that you were not supposed to be ashamed of who you voted for, so you did it openly.
When the nation was still small in population, you would vote in your town or neighborhood, and your friends would vouch for you to guarantee you lived in the area. Poll books were sometimes kept so that names could be crossed off once you voted, and often you were required to swear an oath that you had only voted once. We should reinstate that practice; I’m sure nobody would ever lie about something as important as voting.
Another important aspect of early voting was that only men who owned property or were not beholden to anyone else for their livelihood were allowed to vote. Obviously, under the voice-voting system, it was possible for employers to pressure their employees into supporting certain candidates.
As the population grew and voting rights expanded to all white men, a better way to track votes became necessary, leading to the use of paper ballots. Most of the time, ballots were not officially provided, so voters often submitted names on any scrap of paper they could find. This is why, if you ever hear that Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in many Southern states, it’s not quite true — there was no official ballot, so nothing for him to be on. Election officials still relied on recognizing voters at the polls, essentially agreeing that you lived within the voting area.
Paper ballots, however, were still susceptible to fraud and error since they were counted by hand. There were always stories of ballot box stuffing or counters simply throwing a bunch out.
The real change came in the decades after the Civil War with the introduction of the Australian ballot system. Under this system, each state printed an official ballot listing candidates to mark. The bigger change was the secret ballot, which was meant to break the power of political machines, like Tammany Hall, that pressured people to vote for their candidates.
It’s important to remember that states — not the federal government — are responsible for running elections, so there wasn’t a singular moment when all states adopted the Australian system. Instead, they transitioned gradually, though all had done so by around 1900.
While this system reduced pressure on voters, it did not eliminate fraud or the possibility of human error in hand counting. It also had the effect of dropping the voting percentage from the 80s to the 40s. Once voting was not public anymore, it became less a spectacle and not worth showing up for. They also stopped serving alcohol on Election Day, which might have had something to do with it.
To reduce human error, speed up the process, and combat fraud, mechanical voting machines were introduced, such as the Acme machine, which used a tabulator to count votes and compare the number of ballots cast to the number of voters. In 1892, Jacob H. Myers introduced the first widely used lever voting machine. These machines allowed voters to select candidates by pulling levers, and the system automatically recorded their choices. While they improved efficiency, they lacked a paper record for recounts and audits.
The next major advancement came with punch card voting systems in the 1960s. Voters punched holes in a card to indicate their choices, and machines tabulated the results electronically. Anyone who remembers the 2000 Presidential Election knows the flaw in this system, when Florida officials spent weeks determining whether cards were properly punched. It was during that election that we got a new term in our vocabulary, “hanging chad,” referring to the tabs that had been punched but not fully removed. Some claimed it was a flawed system, but I think it might just be Florida voters. The courts ultimately made the decision, and George W. Bush won, prompting calls for a new system.
In Oklahoma, we began using a system in the 1990s that combines hand-marked paper ballots with optical scan tabulators. Today, all 77 counties use the eScan A/T, an optical scan voting device manufactured by Hart InterCivic. After you vote, ballots are read, counted, and deposited into a secure voting bin. The machines are never connected to the internet, and both paper ballots and printed vote tallies generated by the device are secured until results are certified.
To help cut down on fraud, Oklahoma voters must first register and show proof that they live in their voting precinct. On Election Day, you must present a valid ID, and your name is crossed off the registration rolls to prevent double voting. Finally, each precinct is staffed by at least three officials, including at least one from each of the two largest parties. Their job is to make sure everything is on the level.
With all these modern protections in place, it becomes much harder for fraud or human error to occur. While I’m not saying it’s impossible, the State of Oklahoma has done everything in its power to make sure our election system is safe and fair — and it has come a long way since standing on the corner shouting names, even though that might be more fun.
James Finck is a professor of American history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at james.finck@swoknews.com. Thanks to the Southwest Ledger and the Lawton Constitution for sharing his column.
