"The Soldiers’ Vote"

On April 5, 1864, this opinion piece appeared in the New York Times, discussing the importance of allowing volunteer Union soldiers to vote in the northern elections and how that could be accomplished without fraud. 

THE SOLDIERS' VOTE

The method by which the soldiers’ vote shall be sent from the field, and deposited in the ballot-box at his home, proves a puzzle to our Legislature. A bill has been reported by a select committee, which provide that the ballots shall be enclosed in envelopes and marked on the outside “Soldier’s Vote” and that such envelopes may be sent by mail to the inspectors of election, in the district where the soldier resides, any time within sixty days before the election. This proposition seems very much like offering a chance to corruption. Why sold the soldiers’ vote be thus advertised, or exposed to such risk from mail farriers, Post-office officials, or election inspectors? Would he be willing to thus hazard his money? Certainly not; he would demand it as his right to send it to a friend whom he could trust, if he wished to deposit it in bank, and the Legislature could not deprive him of this right. Is a citizen’s vote of less value than money or is it less his own or less under his control? It strikes us that our legislators need to remember that it is his (the soldier’s) vote, and not their own, that they are dealing with.

Source:

"The Soldiers' Vote", The New York Times, April 5, 1864. Page 4. Accessed through Newspapers.com