"
Upon the basis of this indictment of the county convention
system, the Republican voters of Crawford County, a rural
community, whose largest town is Meadville, the county seat,
proceeded to nominate their candidates by direct vote, under
rules prepared by the county committee. These rules have been but
slightly changed. The informality of a hat or open table drawer
has been replaced by an official ballotbox, and an official
ballot has taken the place of the tickets furnished by each
candidate.
The "Crawford County plan," as it was generally called, was
adopted by various localities in many States. In 1866 California
and New York enacted laws to protect primaries and nominating
caucuses from fraud. In 1871 Ohio and Pennsylvania enacted
similar laws, followed by Missouri in 1875 and New Jersey in
1878. By 1890 over a dozen States had passed laws attempting to
eliminate the grosser frauds attendant upon making nominations.
In many instances it was made optional with the party whether the
direct plan should supersede the delegate plan. Only in certain
cities, however, was the primary made mandatory in these States.
By far the larger areas retained the convention.
There is noticeable in these years a gradual increase in the
amount of legislation concerning the nominating machinery--
prescribing the days and hours for holding elections of
delegates, the size of the polling-place, the nature of the
ballotbox, the poll-list, who might participate in the choice of
delegates, how the returns were to be made, and so on.
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