1864 Election Ballots

[Union Guard]

Greetings All,

I'm starting to pull information together to do scenario at an upcoming local living history. The site of the living history is a house that was last used as a polling station for the election of 1864 and is located north of Pittsburgh. The scenario I want to do is the Election of 1864 in which the public can actually vote for Lincoln or McClellan. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a few questions:

1) What did typical election ballots look like? I saw a hand written one from Ohio on ebay, but am looking for more examples.
2)What information was listed on ballots, other than candidates?
3)To what extent were women involved in the election process? I know they didn't vote, but I did find a drawing from 1872 on ebay of women helping fold ballots.
4) Does anyone know of any other candidates who appeared on the PA ballots in 1864 (senators, reps, etc.), especially pertaining to Allegheny County?
5) Does anyone know of descriptions of the voting process in the 1860s, particularly in rural communities?

Any other helpful information would be much appreciated. Thanks to everyone in advance. Moderators, please relocate this post if needed.

Regards,
Aaron Hooks

[vbetts]

Re: 1864 Election Ballots

This book is on my "to buy" list, but you might want to check out:

Bensel, Richard Franklin.
The American Ballot-Box in the Mid 19th Century.
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
paperback--$23.99.

Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net

[Canton Zouave]

Re: 1864 Election Ballots

Aaron,

A Pard and I have been doing Election of 1864 scenarios for years, and they have been a great success for us.

Due to the fact that travel for the candidates was rough, to say the least, the candidates relied on "Electors" to spread the word, and the candidates platform.

We have several samples of ballots from the 1864 election here at the McKinley Museum in Canton.
The ballots measure about 2 inches by 7 inches.

The Lincoln (National Union Party) Ballot features and engraving of "Columbia", and as I recall the McClellan (Democrat) Ballots have an image of "Little Mac" himself.

The remainder of the ballot has the names of the electors for Stark County Ohio. If I can get an image of these I will post them here for you. They are currently framed and on dispaly at the Ramsayer Research Library, here in town.

A good source for how the Election of 1864 went in your area, is to look at your local newspapers. Especially if you have any that are strictly politically oriented. We had the dubious honor of having the Stark County Democrat. Their editor, his name escapes me at this moment, dearly loved Clement Vallandingham, and was an ardent Copper Head supporter. Needless to say his sharp "Copper Head" tongue got him into a pickle quite frequently, in a community that was strongly Republican in 1860.

As I find more, I will post it.