Until the 1890s, parties – not the government – supplied voters with ballots. Thus, others could easily see how you voted. State law also allowed ballots to be numbered or signed, thus making it easier to track the choice of individual voters. Voters in company towns or coal patches would have reasonably expected to lose their jobs if they voted the wrong way. With all that, by 1890, about 30% of men voted for governor, slightly more than before the Civil War.

Part of the reason was that Pennsylvania voters had to pay a poll tax to vote, which remained the case until 1933. Election officials kept “poll books” of voters but voters could assert their right to vote at that polling place as long as a majority of election judges agreed. (If a party controlled enough election judges, they could allow repeating – that is fraudulent – voters). A form of early voting was allowed, provided voters put it in an envelope and attached an affidavit. In 1891, Pennsylvania passed a law (P. L. 349) creating a secret ballot but also making it easy for voters to vote a straight party-line ticket.

The new law did little to prevent widespread fraud. The New York Times reported that “An angry Philadelphia newspaper once printed the pictures of a dog and a 4‐year‐old boy listed on the registry. Lincoln Steffens recalled a campaigning Philadelphia politician who, after reminding his audience that Independence Hall was in his ward, went on to name the signers of the Declaration of Independence. ‘These men,’ he said, ‘the fathers of American liberty, voted down here once. And,’ he added with a sly grin, ‘they vote here yet.’”

Fraud resulted from entrenched political machines that dominated most cities and counties. A good example is Delaware County, where Republicans ran the county from before the Civil War until 2023. According to Millersville historian John Morrison McLarnon, party bosses “maced” county employees for about 6% of their salary. Appointed paid positions were parceled out to lawyers, effectively neutralizing future opposition, as loyalty was needed to keep your post. Politicians directed public announcements to friendly newspapers, keeping them in business and quiet. Finally, John J. McClure, the party boss until 1965, also controlled his erstwhile opponents in the Democratic Party.

These tactics, as well as manipulating ballots and counting, poisoned the electoral process for decades. Voting was so corrupt that in 1926, Republican Gov. Gifford Pinchot refused to certify fellow Republican William Scott Vare for U.S. Senator. The Senate refused to admit Vare, and the seat remained empty until Joseph Grundy was appointed in 1929. Voting reforms passed in 1927 made it easier to challenge election results and would gradually weaken the power of machines.

The new rules, including extending the franchise to women, broadened voter participation. Around 35% of voters turned out in the 1934 governor’s race, when the state elected the second Democrat to serve since the Civil War.

However, a competitive two-party system would not take root in the state until the 1950s, and voter turnout slowly and steadily increased. Elections became more honest, but the power of political machines endured for more years. For instance, in 2006, Allegheny County Sheriff Pete DeFazio, a Democrat, was convicted of corruption and others in his office went to jail for a version of macing. Franklin and Marshall professor Terry Madonna observed that what DeFazio did “’was a real common practice in courthouses around the state.” Madonna added: “Courthouse gangs’ of county officials ran Pennsylvania’s local governments from around the end of the Civil War until the 1960s.”

As late as the 1970s, some federal officials considered Pennsylvania to be the most corrupt state in the country. Federal anti-corruption laws helped uproot corruption. In 2006, a then-spokesman for then-Attorney General Tom Corbett told the Tribune-Review that most contemporary corruption involved self-enriching politicians rather than a political machine. “Instead of employees paying for a job, it’s contractors and lobbyists,” according to the report.

Overall, for a decades-long span after the Civil War and into the modern era, Pennsylvania endured a perfect storm of corruption. The state had many powerful corporations who routinely bribed politicians. One-party machines dominated many counties, stifling opposition. In the coal regions, company towns, and industrial cities, company police were effectively the law over a largely immigrant working class.

The result was the plundering of the state’s vast natural resources: timber, coal, oil, and gas. The state created fortunes that were enjoyed elsewhere while citizens were left with the byproducts.

This long and tragic history with voting fraud and corruption should make us appreciate that in recent decades, voting fraud has been vanishingly rare. Ballot stuffing or repeating voters is the stuff of social media legend rather than part of our lived reality. The biggest challenge to democracy is less other voters with different ideas than would-be oligarchs who can easily corrupt elected officials elected in honest elections.

(John Hinshaw is a professor of history at Lebanon Valley College.)