man, this sounds familiar...............

 

     Williams also got the politicians.  The Junto consistently elected Federalists to local seats—often by playing dirty.  One corrupt practice of the era was called "making votes."  Since many people couldn't meet the state's stringent property requirements, Federalist attorneys created fake deeds that voters presented to poll inspectors. "In this cursed crooked world," Williams wrote Ebenezer Foote, "if our institutions are worth preserving, we must preserve them by use of such means as alone can sustain them."

-James M. Bradley, Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician