Name/Title
Ballot BoxEntry/Object ID
2022.6.1Description
Wooden box with hinges to open lid. The lid has 1.5-inch slot on the top. The box is lockable (no key) with metal hardware.Context
This box collected ballots in Fulton, Sumter County, South Carolina, during the state's 1876 election. According to a four-page note donated with it, “this ballot box was stuffed with tissue ballots….This happened all over the state. People counting ballots blew their breath on ‘tissue ballots’ causing ballots to come loose.” Individuals mentioned in the note include election official Jackson J. Broughton (1829–1898), a Civil War veteran and farmer, who directed his eldest son, Eugene (1862–1932) to “press” together one or more tissue ballots inside a regular ballot; the father kept the box as a memento to be passed down to his descendants.
In the months prior to this pivotal election, Democratic strategists incorporated violence and intimidation tactics into their campaign as the primary means of controlling Black voter turnout. Their plan, crafted by Civil War veteran Martin W. Gary (1831–1881), featured coordinated, military-style processions of mounted Red Shirts at campaign stops across the state; threats of economic retaliation for voting Republican; and on several occasions, violence ending in murder.
However, prevention and persuasion alone could not ensure a Democratic victory. Ultimately, some Democrat-affiliated election officials perpetuated voter fraud through tissue ballot schemes. By creating or simply manipulating tissue ballots, they ensured that one vote became two or more during the counting process. This scheme was obvious in counties like Edgefield, where ballots for Wade Hampton III (1818–1902) exceeded the total number of registered voters. Fraud enabled Hampton to outpoll Republican incumbent Daniel Chamberlain (1835–1907) by 1,300 votes state-wide. Hampton assumed office in 1877, marking the end of Reconstruction.Made/Created
Date made
1876Place
State/Province
South Carolina
![Accompanying note, page one: Transcription:
Reconstruction era Ballot Box. Wade Hampton ran against [Daniel Henry] Chamberlain (Yankee candidate) for governor of S.C. Chamberlain was a carpetbagger who drained the state treasury gave everything to negros. SC had negro congressman.](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/9505/0cabfb60-dec3-11ed-beb7-4daf0047c1f1-vUWAm0d.lg@2x.jpg)
![Accompanying note, page two: Transcription:
This ballot box was stuffed with tissue ballots (ballots were pressed together). Uncle ([illegible] oldest brother) Eugene Broughton pressed the ballot (about 1876). This happened all over the state. People counting ballots blew their](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/9505/0f87f230-dec3-11ed-beb7-4daf0047c1f1-vUWAm0d.lg@2x.jpg)
![Accompanying note, page three: Transcription:
breath on “tissue ballots” causing the ballots to come loose. Election official was John Jackson (Jack) Broughton, Mother's grandfather. [illegible] got ballot box, Mom got it from her.](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/9505/120415c0-dec3-11ed-beb7-4daf0047c1f1-vUWAm0d.lg@2x.jpg)
