The County Election

(From Reynoldahouse)

By George Caleb Bingham (1852).  Bingham was a Missouri resident and, as you can see, the rituals of voting in those days were a mite different from today.  There was no registration so each voter took an oath, you declared your vote publicly, and the provision of liquor at polling places, often courtesy of the candidates, was commonplace (you can see a gentleman holding up a dead drunk friend in the painting).