From the archive
The Long History of Disputed and Stolen Elections in America
Recent Gallup polling suggests that a majority of Americans, across the political spectrum, remain concerned about the integrity of elections as we approach the midterms. Attorney David Walbert suggests that fraught and rigged elections are, unfortunately, a recurring feature of American history.
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, many American voters report clear concerns about election integrity. Among their fears are ballot mishandling, voter intimidation, and political pressure to change outcomes. In fact, more than half of Republicans, more than three-fourths of Democrats, and two-thirds of independents expressed concern that political leaders could pressure “election officials to change election outcomes.” These concerns arise amid tit-for-tat redistricting efforts in red and blue states, whose respective political leaders seek to dilute the influence of minority-party voters, as well as efforts in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election to remove then-candidate Donald Trump from the ballot.
Furthermore, the United States is only five years removed from the events of January 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Trump stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to interrupt the proceedings to certify President-elect Joe Biden as the duly elected president.
While the fraught nature of recent elections may be fresh in mind, stolen and disputed elections are a long-standing feature of American history. In Stealing Elections, American Style, published by Bloomsbury Academic, David Walbert explores this history, drawing on his career as an attorney litigating voting-rights cases. Walbert, who has argued several cases before the United States Supreme Court, describes how Rutherford Hayes won the 1876 presidential election through what he characterizes as backroom dealing and flagrant fraud; how Lyndon Johnson’s United States Senate career began with a stolen election in 1948; and how thousands of voters were purged in Florida before the presidential election of 2000. In the following conversation with Merion West senior editor Jonathan Church, Walbert discusses these key events while providing a broader institutional history of how elections in the United States have been dramatically influenced—or stolen outright—by controlling who votes, how votes are counted, and who decides when the counting stops.
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