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ELECTION DAY STORIES
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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The Yiddish word meaning "to elect" is "dervelyn"; "dos valn" means "the election" and "der veyler" means "the voter."
Have you heard these two jokes?
"My daddy voted straight-line Republican all his life. Since he died he votes Democrat."
And there's a saying up in Chicago way..."The election isn't over until all the dead folk vote!"
STEVE TERRELL said there are many jokes about the voting dead-- or should we call them "The Silent Majority"?
Let's look at some headlines from today and yesterday:
2013, "THE DEAD CAN VOTE. LI ROLLS INCLUDE
THOUSANDS OF DECEASED PEOPLE--AND HUNDREDS WERE
RECORDED AS CASTING BALLOTS" (Newsday, Oct. 31) It's NOT
a Halloween joke!
2012 "STUDY: 1.8 MILLION DEAD PEOPLE STILL REGISTERED TO VOTE"
2012 "FLORIDA: 53K DEAD PEOPLE ON VOTER ROLLS"
2008 WLBT-TV, "VOTER ROLLS STUFFED WITH DEAD AND ABSENT REGISTRANTS"
2006 A study by the Poughkeepsie Journal (NY) in October of the state's then-new statewide database found that the list contained as many as 77,000 dead people on its rolls.
Dead people voting is a type of election "shvindl" (fraud). This occurs when the name of a deceased person ("der nifter") remains on the state's official list of registered voters and a living "perzon" (person) fraudulently casts a ballot in that name.
"Bloated voter lists can cause problems other than fraud, as they are used to establish precinct boundaries, communicate with voters, validate voters at the polls, and audit election results," says Harvard professor Stephen Ansolabehere.
In Harry Golden's 1972 book, "The Greatest Jewish City In The World," he writes about a colorful character, Big Tim Sullivan. Sullivan was the Tammany Hall power on the Bowery of New York. He achieved this power in the 1890s.
And what did he do on Election Day? "Big Tim had about fifty student barbers ("sherers") working for him on every Election Day. These barbers performed a great service for Tammany. Along about August ("oygust") Big Tim sent word around the Bowery flophouses for the bums to let their beards grow. By Election Day, Big Tim had at his disposal several hundred Bowery bums, each with a full-grown beard ("bord"). First, each bum ("trombenik") would vote with a full beard under one name. He would then rush to one of the stand-by barbers who immediately clipped off the chin ("gombe") fuzz. So then the bum with sideburns and mustache, looking like the Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, voted under a different name. Then he would rush back to the barber and get rid of the sideburns; now, with just the mustache, he would vote for a fourth ("feter") time--plain-faced, as Tammany called it.
For this day's work, the bum got one dollar ("dolar"), three meals, a pint of whiskey ("bronfn"), and, of course, a lesson in civics and good government, not to mention a free ("umzist") hair-cut and shave....
Yes, in the old days the Tammany machine did a wonderful job for itself on Election Day. The joke went all over town, ‘Vote early and often,' and it was much more than just jest."
Harry Golden writes that there were benefits provided for the immigrants of New York by Tammany Hall. The Tammany Hall man met the Jew as he came to America and set up classes for him to learn English and become a citizen. "These benefits included matzoh for Passover, a ton of coal when needed, jobs, housing, and getting Jewish boys out of trouble. The Jews were grateful to Tammany Hall."
(Note: The Yiddish words have been added to the text.)
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MARJORIE GOTTLIEB WOLFE finds it interesting that the
expression, "VOTE EARLY AND VOTE OFTEN" was used in a
Washington Post crossword puzzle on Dec. 12, 2010.
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