Exclusive–O’Donnell: Mail-In Ballot Fraud Is Nothing New, Occurred for the 1st Time During the Civil War

Current controversies have cast doubt on the integrity of mail-in ballots, but ballot fraud in the United States is nothing new. It occurred one hundred and sixty years ago in the presidential election of 1864, when absentee ballots were allowed for the first time because of the massive number of Union soldiers in the field and away from their home states.

Although many soldiers were allowed furlough to return to their home states to vote, some were not. Mail-in ballots were introduced as a solution to allow soldiers to vote absentee. Others voted in their camps, and then officials mailed in the ballots. Democrats furiously battled the efforts in court since they knew most Union soldiers would vote for Lincoln. Mail-in ballots became controversial as the program rolled out, and fraud was suspected.

In fact, a county official from upstate New York, Orville Wood, uncovered one of American history’s most elaborate electoral conspiracies. Wood traveled from upstate New York to Baltimore to ensure that the votes of his county’s soldiers were counted properly and to monitor the mail-in ballots. While visiting one of America’s most sacred sites, the home of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” Fort McHenry, Wood’s “suspicions were aroused.”

He observed soldiers were “checker playing” with the ballots. To gain access to the process and the trust of the supervisor involved in the conspiracy, Wood insinuated that he was a McClellan supporter and a Democrat. The supervisor, Mr. Ferry, then brought Wood into the fold. “McClellan received 400 votes and Lincoln 11. [Wood] expressed surprise at the few votes polled for Lincoln when Mr. Ferry said that, when Union votes came into that office, they were all right when they went out and that they were doing more here than he thought of.”

Wood played into the scheme, personally altering thousands of ballots to make them votes for McClellan. Wood then brought evidence to authorities, exposing the entire operation. Shockingly, Ferry provided a full confession of his illicit activity. General Abner Doubleday called a military commission to rectify the process, and the committee’s bombshell findings were revealed just before the election.

The full details of this and other Civil War election interference stories are uncovered in my upcoming book, The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations. The book reveals the drama of the irregular guerrilla warfare that altered the course of the Civil War, including the story of Blazer’s Scouts, elements of Lincoln’s Special Forces tasked with hunting Mosby and his Confederate Rangers from 1863 to the war’s end at Appomattox—a previously untold story that inspired the creation of U.S. modern special operations in World War II. The book also captures the story of the Confederate Secret Service.

Mail-in ballot fraud wasn’t the only form of election fraud or vote tampering during the presidential election of 1864. John Singleton Mosby and other Confederate irregulars attempted to capture ballot boxes to disrupt the election, but most of their efforts failed. Ultimately, seven out of ten Union troops would vote for Lincoln and the continuation of the war.

Another example of irregular forces participating in ballot fraud occurred when Harry Gilmor’s Raiders, a Confederate partisan group and recon force disguised in Union blue uniforms and posing as Blazer’s Scouts, suddenly found themselves face-to-face with four real Union Scouts. Wearing a blue overcoat that matched theirs, Gilmor convinced the men they were part of the Union cavalry as the group rode toward camp to vote in the presidential election. Gilmor smiled and made small talk. He asked, “I suppose you will vote for Lincoln?” Lincoln’s Special Forces replied in the affirmative and showed the Confederate irregulars their “tickets” to cast ballots. Gilmor motioned, and on his silent signal, the Scouts had pistols in their faces. The Blazer Scouts surrendered without firing a shot. Gilmore took the tickets and nonchalantly rode into the Union camp of thousands of soldiers. “We took their papers and tickets to Sheridan’s camp, and there voted for Lincoln! This gave us every facility for gaining information, for of course no one could object to us after voting for Lincoln!”

So not only did Confederate Gilmor’s Raiders vote for Lincoln in arguably the most consequential election in history, but the irregular Union scouts who posed as Confederates, called Jessie Scouts, also did. The war and election galvanized the beliefs of many of the men who had been battling the Confederacy for years. As Arch Rowland fondly wrote to a fellow Scout years later, “Each of us having two years’ experience as Scouts. And I may say we are both hard-shelled Republicans. I voted for Abe Lincoln in 64, at Martinsburg, when I was nineteen, and have never strayed from that path since.”

Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling, critically-acclaimed military historian and an expert on elite units. He is the author of thirteen books, including his latest bestselling book on the Civil War: The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations, and is at the front of Barnes and Noble Stores nationwide. His other bestsellers include: The Indispensables,  The Unknowns, and Washington’s Immortals.  O’Donnell served as a combat historian in a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and often speaks on espionage, special operations, and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for DreamWorks’ award-winning miniseries Band of Brothers and documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Discovery. PatrickKODonnell.com @combathistorian