Votes were openly bought and sold in Colorado Territory elections.

Evidence

It is the election day for the Territory, and men were galloping over the prairie to register their votes. The three in the wagon talked politics the whole time. They spoke openly and shamelessly of the prices given for votes; and apparently there was not a politician on either side who was not accused of degrading corruption. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 125

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle: election fraud as an accepted, blatant frontier institution — and how it coexisted with vigilante-order rhetoric.