Lou’s View: VOTES OF CONFIDENCE

For some reason, there’s been a lot of discussion lately about voter fraud. Now, I want to make it perfectly clear that nothing has been proven. There have been plenty of unfounded accusations flung around, but no actual evidence of any voter fraud. And that’s not me saying it, it’s the courts and the election officials. But it’s a topic that’s been in the headlines lately.

It brings to mind some history of Clinton County, Chapman Township specifically. I’ll bet you never knew that Chapman Township is considered the birthplace of voter fraud. And unlike Rudy Giuliani, I can prove it. I refer here to page 587 of John Blair Linn’s book “History of Centre and Clinton Counties.”

Back in 1837, Chapman Township was actually a part of Lycoming County before Clinton County was founded. Renovo wasn’t yet a thing, so North Bend was the biggest community up there. And at the time, it was called Youngwomanstown after the story of a young woman who was drowned in the river. Everyone following along so far? Good.

Anyway, Joseph Ritner was running for governor of Pennsylvania. And the story pretty much begins with the canals. Ritner was a big fan of the canals, and was in favor of government funding to continue the work on them. His opponent, David Porter, was in favor of privatizing the work, so the local canal builders were under the impression that the canals would only proceed under Ritner. Representative Thaddeus Stevens, referred to in the book as a “wily politician,” met with some of the local laborers, and developed a plan to re-elect Ritner, no matter the cost.

Under the theme of “vote early and often,” they manipulated the state election board and sent representatives to Youngwomanstown on the basis that it was a critical and easily defrauded place to vote. Linn says, “Youngwomanstown, hitherto unknown in history, became the notorious birthplace of ballot-box stuffing, carried on to the present day in Philadelphia and other cities in the Union.” (The “present day” part refers to publication of the book, which was 1883.)
It was said to have been dangerous to approach the voting window unless you were carrying a ticket, pre-filled-out in the name of Ritner. One man named Patrick O’Flaherty voted Ritner, went across the street for a drink, and returned to vote Ritner again. A nod from the local election boss suggested that it was okay, so O’Flaherty spent the whole day like that, alternating drinks and votes.

By the end, the fifty registered voters in Chapman Township had cast seven hundred votes for Ritner. The return judge was also a friend of Ritner’s, and his job was to take the votes to Williamsport, at the time the county seat. (Remember, this was before Clinton County was official.) He couldn’t resist showing off the many votes, however, and he showed his friends and admirers the votes so many times that they became somewhat mangled and beaten up. As votes aren’t generally supposed to look as if they’ve been in someone’s pocket for a month, he began to get questions on that. In response, he opened the sealed report to prove that the votes had been cast.

Opening the sealed report invalidated it, and all of the votes that had been cast that day were negated.
“The board of returns rejected it,” Linn wrote, “And so saved Youngwomanstown the first and last illegal returns ever sent from that stronghold of Democracy.”

So….Before Clinton County was founded, before North Bend was named, Chapman Township was the birthplace of voter fraud, at least according to historian John Blair Linn. Today, the topic of voter fraud is being hotly debated, and both sides basically agree that it is illegal. Good thing there hasn’t been any.