Cemetery Vote
The “cemetery vote” in politics means dead voters still on the election voting rolls and who show up to vote—through voter fraud, of course. The term “cemetery vote” has been cited in print since at least 1891, but the practice of such voter fraud existed long before this date.
Related sayings to “cemetery vote” include “Dead voters vote Democrat” and “When I die, bury me in Chicago because I want to remain politically active.”
Chronicling America
6 March 1891, The Evening Bulletin (Maysville, KY), “Election in Canada,’ pg. 1, col. 2:
OTTAWA, Ont., March 6.—The Canadian election which occurred yesterday was of great interest. It was made upon a list of voters made two years ago and not revised since. Itcontains many names of dead men and absentees, so that the “cemetery vote” will be an important factor in deciding whether Canada wants unrestricted reciprocity or not.
20 March 1902, The Patriot (Harrisburg, PA), Pg. 4, col. 1:
DEAD MEN’S VOTES.
The Philadelphia “Record” laconically says “the cemetery vote in Philadelphia is one of the mainstays of Republican domination.”
Google Books
Time of Our Lives
By Orrick Johns
New York, NY: Stackpole
1937
Pg. 136:
“‘But could you lay hands on the workers who brought out the cemetery vote?’
“‘I might be able to identify most of ‘em.’
“‘Would they testify in court that the voters were dead men?’”
OCLC WorldCat record
Murder, she wrote. The cemetery vote The body politic
Author: Angela Lansbury; Robert F O’Neill; Seymour Robbie; David Hemmings; Peter S Fischer; All authors
Publisher: Terra Haute, Ind. : Columbia House, ©2000.
Series: Murder, she wrote.
Edition/Format: Video : Videocassette Visual material : English : Collector’s ed
OCLC WorldCat record
Waiting for the cemetery vote : the fight to stop election fraud in Arkansas
Author: Tom Glaze; Ernest Dumas
Publisher: Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press, 2011.
Edition/Format: Book : State or province government publication : English
New York (NY) Daily News
Mean is better than clean in politics
DENIS HAMILL
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
(...)
Esposito came from a long line of down and dirty Brooklyn machine bosses starting with John Y. McKane, son of a Methodist preacher from Northern Ireland, who in 1876 was elected supervisor of the Village of Gravesend, which included Coney Island.
And a couple of cemeteries.
When Democrat Grover Cleveland ran for President in 1884, Boss McKane sat on a high stool in Gravesend Town Hall directing locals who wanted jobs to vote the straight Democratic ticket. McKane also delivered a sizeable “cemetery vote” that helped Cleveland win New York State by 1,200 votes, tipping the Electoral College his way and securing the White House.