We found a bunch of forms like the one below mixed in with some old receipts and newspaper clippings, and at first we thought they were the actual ballots used to vote, though we couldn't figure out why the name "A.C. Hendrix" was printed as it is on each one. An older neighbor of ours believes these were actually campaign cards for A.C. Hendrix, and that does make sense. Evidently, he handed out these cards and one could then use them as practice or something because all of the ones we have are filled in like this one, although with different names.
Note that the superintendent of schools was an elected office in 1913 and, yes, "Kincaid" has been written on this one, as Don's great-uncle, R.W. Kincaid, Sr., ran for superintendent, won, and held that office for several years.
Don explains how his father told him they used to buy votes when paper ballots were used: "On election day in the 80's, I would sit outside the business I owned on Water St. and watch people in precinct 3 vote at the old health department that was just down the street. Daddy would often come down during the day to visit, and we would chat about whatever was going on. I remember him telling me about how the politicians and their workers would buy votes years ago when the ballots were paper. He said someone would be the first in line to get a paper ballot, leave it blank, pretend to put it in the ballot box, then take it outside. Outside they would complete the ballot for the paid voter and then give it to him or her to take inside. Once inside, the paid voter would put the completed ballot in the box and take the blank one back to the vote buyer. When they had the blank ballot in hand they would start the process all over. Someone always finds a way to beat the system!"
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Reuben (Ruby) Kincaid, Sr., with son R.W. in 1939. R.W. had the ill-fated sleigh-riding accident on the Sharpsburg hill that so many of our older residents either remember or remember hearing about. He died in 1947 at the age of 21.
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Campaign announcements in a 1913 edition of the Owingsville Outlook. Notice how a woman (Miss Carrie Nixon) was running for superintendent of schools, which must have been remarkable for the time period. Also, note the Outlook's subscription rates!
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Sugar Grove's school election was evidently a very pleasant affair, which might be hard for us to imagine in this day of Topix and the anonymous mudslinging such a site allows.
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Labels: Politics
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