201. Glass Ballot Box

Rainey Knudson

1 day ago

2 min read

Photograph of “fish bowl ballot box,” Board of Elections Exhibit, Brown Brothers Photographers (ca. 1923). Samuel C. Jollie glass ballot box (ca. 1856-1857). New York City Department of Records, Municipal Archives Collection. (source)

In 1856, San Francisco was a Gold Rush boomtown, awash in violence and corruption. An ad hoc, extralegal Committee of Vigilance formed, with thousands of armed civilians setting up sandbags around the entrance of their headquarters, a building christened Fort Gunnybags. They tried, convicted, and hanged four men. And they discovered a wooden ballot box with a false bottom and side that allowed officials to stuff fake ballots in without anyone noticing.

The crooked ballot box was national news, a huge outcry. In New York—which had its own problems with Tammany Hall—Samuel C. Jollie devised a solution: a glass globe floating in a cast-iron frame on four columns, half an hourglass, literal transparency in voting. If everything was in sight, there could, theoretically, be no way to rig an election. Every citizen could become a vigilante of democracy simply by paying attention.

The glass ballot boxes became a familiar symbol of elections in political cartoons for decades. They were commonly used until the 1890s, then disappeared, forgotten, in the early 20th century. Even if the contents of the globe were clearly visible, there was always skepticism about who was counting the ballots. There were also new concerns about anonymity—onlookers could see which party’s ticket you dropped in, and voters could be punished based on the color of their ballot. New counting machines and private voting booths replaced the old glass boxes—and introduced fresh waves of concern about how they could be rigged.

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Rose Campbell-Gerke, Ballot Box, c. 1939. Watercolor and graphite on paperboard. Part of the Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art. (source) — Rose Campbell-Gerke, *Ballot Box*, c. 1939. Watercolor and graphite on paperboard. Part of the Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art. (source)

The Stuffer’s Ballot-Box, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, July 19, 1856. (source) — The Stuffer’s Ballot-Box, *Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper*, July 19, 1856. (source)

Fort Gunnybags with sandbags at the entrance. The building was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. (source)

Boss Tweed: "As long as I count the Votes, what are you going to do about it? say?" (source)

1874 Harper's cartoon: "Everything points to a Democratic victory this fall." Dixiecrats greet African American voters with a pistol. (source) — 1874 *Harper's* cartoon: "Everything points to a Democratic victory this fall." Dixiecrats greet African American voters with a pistol. (source)

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This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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