Voters have a tough decision to make this year: Request a mail-in ballot, return it ASAP, and track it obsessively to make sure it’s received, or mask up and vote in person in the middle of a pandemic. It’s times like these that we remember our 2020 mantra: It could always be worse. And indeed, throughout much of history, voting has been an imperfect science. The pros at the Missouri History Museum have helped us identify three other points in history that looked very different from the normally orderly voting process we typically enjoy.
1800s
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In the early days of Missouri’s statehood, white property owners voted viva voce, or verbally. There was no secrecy or Australian ballot.
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Free cider, typically poured by the candidates. There were no rules against electioneering. / A Bible on which to swear an oath that you hadn’t already voted / Violence—the 1854 election led to one of the worst riots in our city’s history.
1900s
By the turn of the century, St. Louis was adopting voting machines, mainly the old-school lever kind.
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Privacy / Extreme satisfaction in flipping all of the little levers / Extreme dissatisfaction should the machine break. There was no paper ballot and therefore no opportunity for an audit.
2000s
Punch card voting predates the early aughts, but you likely remember the trouble the Votomatic machines caused in the 2000 presidential election.
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A book-like ballot, punch card, and stylus / Hanging chad / Utter confusion
2020
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many voters will turn to absentee and mail-in voting. Those who vote in person will have to follow social distancing guidelines.
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Your most patriotic face mask / Hand sanitizer / Bewilderment as to how we got here
