In many instances it was made optional with the party whether the
direct plan should supersede the delegate plan. Only in certain
cities, however, was the primary made mandatory in these States.
By far the larger areas retained the convention.

There is noticeable in these years a gradual increase in the
amount of legislation concerning the nominating machinery--
prescribing the days and hours for holding elections of
delegates, the size of the polling-place, the nature of the
ballotbox, the poll-list, who might participate in the choice of
delegates, how the returns were to be made, and so on. By the
time, then, that the Australian ballot came, with its profound
changes, nearly all the States had attempted to remove the
glaring abuses of the nominating system; and several of them
officially recognized the direct primary. The State was reluctant
to abolish the convention system entirely; and the Crawford
County plan long remained merely optional. But in 1901 Minnesota
enacted a state-wide, mandatory primary law. Mississippi followed
in 1902, Wisconsin in 1903, and Oregon in 1904. This movement has
swept the country.

Few States retain the nominating convention, and where it remains
it is shackled by legal restrictions. The boss, however, has
devised adequate means for controlling primaries, and a return to
a modified convention system is being earnestly discussed in many
States to circumvent the further ingenuity of the boss. A further
step towards the state control of parties was taken when laws
began to busy themselves with the conduct of the campaign.
Corrupt Practices Acts began to assume bulk in the early
nineties, to limit the expenditure of candidates, and to