...the Mexican man walking down the street crying in south Texas. Someone asked what was wrong. He said that he was distressed because his deceased father came from the grave to vote for Lyndon but didn't come see him...
Originally Posted by stikiwikit
That was a joke probably from Duval County, where three generations of Parrs held court as the Dukes of Duval County, from the 1890s until 1975. Their control was absolute, and influence extended throughout South Texas. The 1948 U.S. Senate election between LBJ and Coke Stevenson was not decided until after the infamous Ballot Box 13 was "discovered" in Duval County on the last day of the election, when Stevenson was ahead statewide. All the 202 votes had identical handwriting and ink, and all but two were for LBJ. LBJ won the statewide election, in which more than a million votes were cast, by 87 votes. He was sarcastically called "Landslide Lyndon".
Fortunately, we don't have that level of absolute control anymore, anywhere, including Chicago and Southern Louisiana. Mayor Richard Daley delivered Chicago votes for Kennedy in 1960, most people know. But Daley's Chicago or Parr's Duval County weren't as blatant as Plaquemines Parish and its king, Leander Perez. He reigned absolutely for nearly half a century, from the 1920s until his death in 1968. There, votes were "signed" in alphabetical order, and famous names such as Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin were in the voter lists.
Anyway, now we have multiple poll-watchers from different parties and organizations. We have roving TV crews. We have hair-trigger lawyers with pre-drafted writs of injunction, on call. There are still counties with caudillos and bosses, of course, and these surely influence elections, but nobody is a Duke any more.
Well, now you know or are reminded of some voting history. You may now resume your badinage.