voted. Finally paper of the same color and quality was enjoined
by some States. But it was not until the State itself undertook
to print the ballots that uniformity was secured.

In the meantime the peddling of tickets was a regular occupation
on election day. Canvassers invaded homes and places of business,
and even surrounded the voting place. It was the custom in many
parts of the country for the voters to prepare the ballots before
reaching the voting place and carry them in the vest pocket, with
a margin showing. This was a sort of signal that the voter's mind
had been made up and that he should be let alone, yet even with
this signal showing, in hotly contested elections the voter ran a
noisy gauntlet of eager solicitors, harassing him on his way to
vote as cab drivers assail the traveler when he alights from the
train. This free and easy method, tolerable in sparsely settled
pioneer districts, failed miserably in the cities. It was
necessary to pass rigorous laws against vote buying and selling,
and to clear the polling-place of all partizan soliciting. Penal
provisions were enacted against intimidation, violence,
repeating, false swearing when challenged, ballot-box stuffing,
and the more patent forms of partizan vices. In order to stop the
practice of "repeating," New York early passed laws requiring
voters to be duly registered. But the early laws were defective,
and the rolls were easily padded. In most of the cities poll
lists were made by the party workers, and the name of each voter
was checked off as he voted. It was still impossible for the
voter to keep secret his ballot. The buyer of votes could tell
whether he got what he paid for; the employer, so disposed, could
bully those dependent on him into voting as he wished, and the
way was open to all manner of tricks in the printing of ballots