If elections are the lifeblood of a democracy then we have an ailing body politic. From ballot stuffing and intimidating voters to buying votes suppressing turnout and manipulating returns Deliver the Vote is an intensive examination into the hidden interiors of American politics that casts a provocative new light on how power in America is often obtained. Drawing on hundreds of elections from the colonial era to the 2004 election historian Tracy Campbell reveals how a long-standing culture of corruption is alive and well in local state and national elections. Among those whose stories are central to this book are Boss Tweed William Randolph Hearst Huey Long Harry Truman Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter as well as countless local and state politicians of every stripe. Combining social and political history in a vivid narrative Deliver the Vote reveals how fraud has been a persistent and corrosive presence in American history and is not confined to one party location or time period. Campbell explores every major reform to cleanse fraud and corruptionpaper ballots the secret ballot or voting machinesand explains how they have only changed the way the game is played sadly showing how American elections have never been in order.
