1888: When Dirty Politics And The Electoral College Defeated Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland fell victim to some rather unfortunate political circumstances.
Grover Cleveland was the first Democratic president since the Civil War and the first Democrat to be renominated since Martin Van Buren in 1840. The man was a presidential trendsetter (as you’ll see in further detail below), but he also fell victim to some unfortunate political circumstances that threatened to derail his political career in 1888, when he ran for re-election.
Back in the day, political parties would print ballots for their voters. The ballots were large, and this was before the adoption of secret ballots. Thus, when a voter cast his vote (his because women could not vote back then), his decision could be seen by everyone at the polling station, including representatives of each political party.
Con men could pinpoint voters called floaters who were to known to cast the vote to the highest bidders. Floaters would typically sell their votes for $2.
In the 1888 presidential election, Cleveland ran against former Republican Senator Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. Harrison had a good record on war-related issues and came from a swing state (Indiana), but despite his solid credentials, he opted to…
