An Election Story - Rutherford Hayes Presidential Library

I visited the Rutherford Hayes Presidential Library in Fremont, Ohio more than a year ago, and the post kept getting shuffled to the bottom of the pile due to the amount of research I usually put into these types of posts.  But with the election yesterday, I decided instead to do a little comparison on voting then versus voting today since a large part of the exhibit at the museum actually dealt with this issue.

But first let's take a moment to talk about the President's wife, Lucy Webb Hayes, who was born in Ohio in 1831.  She met her husband on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware and they were married in 1852 in Cincinnati.  They had 8 children, and Rutherford was influenced by Lucy's antislavery sentiments and she also supported his decision to volunteer for military service during the Civil War. She also assisted her brother, Dr. Joe Webb in caring for the sick during the war.  When her husband served in U.S. Congress and when he was Governor of Ohio she worked for the welfare of children and veterans.  As First Lady she regularly visited the National Deaf Mute College and the Hampton Institute where she sponsored a scholarship for an African American student. It was Lucy who started the tradition of the Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn!  She was the first First Lady who had received a college education and was the first wife of a U.S. President to be referred to as the First Lady.

Little active campaigninig? Go to work instead of rallies?

What I found most interesting at this particular presidential museum was the information on campaigning and elections.  I'll let you read the text in the pictures I took. Click on the photo to make it larger if you're having trouble reading it!

What's the secret there?

Nearly 82% of eligible voters turned out to vote? Doesn't that sound crazy? Normally in this country only 40% of eligible voters turn out for mid-term elections and maybe 50% for presidential elections according to an article from Forbes.  The 2016 election had a turnout of about 55%.  Still, 82% of Swedes voted in 2014 and 78% of South Koreans voted in 2017!

REPUBLICANS were concerned that blacks would be kept from polling places.

When I showed up to vote yesterday morning I had a chat with the fellow processing the Early Voter ballots.  Out of 3300 eligible voters in Twin Lakes over 700 submitted early ballots which they process right there at the polls on Election Day.  At 8:30 in the morning he said that meant that with the folks standing in line so far turnout was already higher than in 2016!

Strange to see an election map with blank spots! Those areas still just territories in 1876.

The election in 1876 was a close one, and we know how that turns out.  We had a close race for governor here in Wisconsin yesterday, so I waited until morning for the results.  With 99% of votes counted the Democrat Tony Evers is projected to have won over incumbent governor Scott Walker. There is talk in Walker's campaign of a recount, but an unofficial tally had Evers winning by 1.1 percentage points - a margin that would be too large for a recount if it held according to news reports.

Hayes name not even on the ballot?? Talk about election interference!

Black voter turnout was a problem in Milwaukee in 2016, dropping by about 20%,  and was one of the pieces of the puzzle that allowed Trump to win. Some think that no matter the politicians on the ballot, their vote won't make a difference. Many are confused by the Voter ID law that Governor Scott Walker put into effect. They think you need a voter ID card instead of just a drivers license or other state ID.

Though the 15th amendment gave them the right
to vote, African Americans had difficulty doing so

As a matter of fact, when Katrina went to vote in Waukesha she presented a paper photo ID card from the DMV because she is waiting for her new drivers license to come in the mail.  And her poll worker didn't believe it was legal ID even though it stated right on the card legal ID for voting. Luckily Katrina stood her ground and they found someone to confirm its authenticity.

A special congressional commission decided the outcome of the election of 1876. I'm sure we will be hearing lots of conspiracy theories over some of the election results in the days ahead.  It makes me tired.

Another gentleman told me that once he stood in line to vote for an hour just to get to the front of the line and be told he was at the wrong polling place.  How often does that happen in the larger cities? How often do those folks bother going to the proper polling place and standing in line again? Why don't we have someone at the end of the line double checking that people are in the right place before making them wait? Or put up some sort of signage helping people determine if the polling place serves their district?  Couldn't they put up a big map?  Ah, but then it would be obvious how weirdly drawn the districts are?

Women get the right to vote in 1920

In 1876 women did not have the right to vote.  In these crucial mid-terms it is estimated that 52% of the voters were women! And now more than 100 women will be serving in the House of Representatives! Still not even 20% of the representatives are women...but we're getting there. Though women could not vote during the election of 1876, President Hayes did sign a bill that allowed women attorneys to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nearly 2.7 million people voted in Wisconsin, according to unofficial returns from the Associated Press, in an election that saw Democrats win a narrow victory for governor and a bigger one for US Senate. That is easily the most ever votes cast in a mid-term election in Wisconsin. It is also higher than the 2,516,065 that voted in the 2012 recall election for governor. Based on state population estimates from earlier this year, turnout was equal to almost 60 percent of the voting-age population. (source: Journal Sentinel)  Are the young finally voting? I hope so!

President Hayes had to resolve governor races in South Carolina and Louisiana, using troops of soldiers for a time to keep the peace. Speaking of law enforcement, former federal prosecutor Democrat Josh Kaul appears to have defeated Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel in a very tight race also! Democrats did well in Wisconsin! 

Shocking that white leaders in the south didn't keep their promises to treat blacks equal under the law in 1876?  In nearby Milwaukee the black community still is denied equal economic and educational opportunities, not to mention they have to fear for their safety from the police who should be on their side helping to make their communities safe. My daughter tells me a lot from her experience with Girl Scouts and from her contacts in the domestic violence community.  It's heartbreaking.                 

Frederick Douglass was appointed U.S. Marshal by President Hayes! I guess President Trump never visited this museum or he would have known that he was dead, right?  Sorry, I couldn't help myself!  You have to laugh so you don't cry sometimes.

President Hayes faced numerous major issues, including the end of Reconstruction and its aftermath, and the plight of American Indians. His major concerns were civil service reform, returning the nation’s currency to a gold standard, and education.  In 1880 there was a push to bar Chinese immigration to the United States and after Hayes was gone Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  Sound familiar?  These museums always alarm me by pointing out how the issues seem to never change very much.

Before he took office, Hayes publicly said he would only serve one term, and he returned to his home in Spiegel Grove after completing his term. The museum is located there, and is not all about the issues during his time in office. You can also see artifacts such as Abraham lincoln's slippers, their White House china, their daughter Fanny's elaborate dollhouses, information and artifacts related to the Civil War, and George Washington's ring.  The admission price includes the home so you can also visit that if you like but I did not have the time.

I'll end with a fun fact: while Rutherford Hayes was President the White House was home to a menagerie of their pets which included a mockingbird, 2 dogs, a goat and the nation's first Siamese cat!  I'm hoping to add a few presidential sites to my tally when we head east next summer, specifically JFK in Boston, John Adams in Quincy, and FDR in Hyde Park, New York.  I'll have to sneak away from the "moving to Canada" caravan to do it.  Our caravan of immigrants isn't scary either, I hope we won't have any trouble at the border.

Hope everyone survived the mid-terms with their sanity intact!