From: Harper's Magazine
The G.O.P. aims to paint the country red
It was a hot summer in 1932 when
Louisiana senator Huey “Kingfish” Long arranged to rig the vote on a
number of amendments to his state’s constitution that would be
advantageous to his financial interests. Long was no stranger to rigged
votes. This time around, however, the fix delivered by his machine was
blatant and sloppy: his favored amendments won unanimously in sixteen
New Orleans precincts and garnered identical vote totals in twenty-eight
others.
Eugene Stanley, the incorruptible district attorney for Orleans
Parish, presented evidence of fraud to a grand jury. Louisiana’s
attorney general, the less morally encumbered Gaston Porterie, stepped
in to sabotage the case for Long. Nonetheless, two judges demanded a
recount, at which point Governor O. K. Allen obliged Long by declaring
martial law. Intimidated jurors found themselves sorting ballots under
the supervision of National Guardsmen, who stood by to “protect” them
with machine guns.
When this effort failed, another grand jury was convened. Their
eventual finding of a massive conspiracy led to the indictment of 513
New Orleans election officials. Once again, Long used his famous powers
of persuasion. At his behest, the Louisiana legislature modified the
state’s election law, giving ex post facto protection to the defendants.
Election rigging, Long might have quipped, had become downright
exhausting. But it worked. MORE
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