Rigged Election

During this (and past) election cycles we have heard candidates talk of big money influence, backroom collusion, computer malfunctions, voter fraud and intimidation, etc. all in the name of "rigged elections".  Although there is very little evidence that the 2016 presidential process has been rigged (with the exception of the DNC working against Bernie Sanders in the "democratic" primary), many still believe there is the potential for a rigged election.

1876 Presidential Election Map

So let's talk about a truly rigged election...

In 1876 (just 11 years after the conclusion of the Civil War), Republican Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel Tilden, who had the overwhelming support of Southern White/ Democrat voters aka former Confederate/ White Power organizations. 

The electoral college vote, however, was vigorously disputed. Hayes claimed victory based on his "wins" in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina (those states were under Republican/ federal military control aka Military Reconstruction). Democrats submitted alternative election totals in those three states that discounted Black/ Republican votes and claimed a Democratic victory.

 A contentious election crisis ensued.

Congress (controlled by Republicans) set up a special commission to resolve the crisis.  Not surprisingly, the special commission (making a backroom deal) declared Hayes the winner of the election, in what has come to be known as "The Compromise of 1877." 

In the deal, Democrats agreed to give Hayes a victory they clearly believed he had not won. 

In return, Republicans agreed to:

• Remove federal troops (and protection for African Americans and Republican candidates) from the South.
• Support tax appropriations to rebuild southern railroads, levees, and other infrastructure. 

This rigged election effectively invalidated the "Civil War/ Reconstruction Freedom" so hoped for by African Americans and Radical Republicans, as southern state governments and white power terrorist organizations began a systematic renewal of the southern slavery system...denying the right to vote, imprisoning thousands of African American men in work prisons, developing Jim Crow "laws", sharecropping and debt peonage, and lynching thousands.

Much like 1877, the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed have been pushed to the margins of  2016 America by the neoliberal economic beliefs of the Democrats and Republicans...in an election that is truly rigged against them.