I would rather be defeated with the soldier vote behind me than to be...

[David Lockmiller]

(02-27-2020 02:09 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  David, I wholeheartedly second what you said about Laurie.

Somewhere I read that in 1864 Republican soldiers were given furloughs to go home to vote, but Democratic soldiers were kept in the field. This, if true, would have boosted Lincoln's votes from soldiers. I am not sure if this granting of furloughs to Republican soldiers is true - has anyone else read this?

Roger, I do not know for certain that your statement that "Democratic soldiers were kept in the field" is true. But if your statement is true, you make a very good point and it is not a good thing. It is a point that Laurie might well have made with the same knowledge as you . . . but perhaps with more "forceful" words about putting a thumb on the election scale.

Regarding your question of whether Lincoln granted furloughs to Republican soldiers, there is the following information from the same page of "Team of Rivals" that I previously cited in my initial post (page 664).

When Thurlow Weed alerted the White House that among the sailors "on Gun Boats along the Mississippi," there were "several thousand" New Yorkers ready to vote if the government could provide a steamer to reach them and gather their ballots, Lincoln asked Welles to put a navy boat "at the disposal of the New York commission to gather votes."

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(02-27-2020 02:57 PM)Gene C Wrote:  I don't know about the election of 1864, but the votes for soldiers serving over seas was an issue in the 2000 election for the Florida vote.
Just ask Chad.

There once lived in one of the upstairs apartments in my building a guy by the name of "Chad." I thought that was a very unusual name until I heard about the Florida vote recount and the "hanging chads" time and time again on the nightly news.