2-799-165 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Balloting for president, 1844. Presidential elections in the USA. "The ballot-boxes were placed on a long table, at which half a dozen of the inspectors or canvassers of voters were seated. The voters approached the table by single files. Not a word was spoken. Each voter delivered his list when he got next to the tables to the officers, who called out his name. Any person might object, but the objection was instantly decided on, the officers having no difficulty, from their knowledge of the township, of the persons residing in it, and to whose testimony reference was instantly made, in determining on the spot, whether the qualification of the voter was or was not sufficient"...The mode in which this election has been carried on is beyond all praise. The quiet, order, decency, and forbearance observed at all the polling-places in this city [New York] were admirable'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.