Some interest was expressed in the form and manner of colonial elections, so I will take a one-day detour from St. Mark's Parish. The major election in the colony of Virginia was for the members of the House of Burgesses, two from each county. The actual election was at the courthouse, so that, in the early days of Spotsylvania County, this could mean traveling a considerable distance. In cases where there was not much excitement about the election, candidates, favored by people living near the courthouse, stood the best chance of election. Our Germanna people could not vote until they were naturalized.
Daniel J. Boorstin wrote about the elections in his " The Americans: The Colonial Experience ", where he described them as a combination of protocol and conviviality. Debate on the issues seldom occurred. What counted more was whether the candidate had mingled with the voters. Or more strongly, the candidate was expected to treat the constituents. Often this took the form of a drink just prior to the actual voting. (For twenty-one years, I lived in California, where no campaigning, including signs, was allowed within 500 feet of the polling place. It was a shock to find campaigning here in Pennsylvania right up to the door of the poll. One has to run a barrage of signs and people urging a vote for a candidate.)
The actual voting took place in the County Courthouse, or, if the weather was very good, in the yard in front of the Courthouse. At one table sat the sheriff, the candidates, and the clerks. (Each candidate could have a clerk of his choosing.) The voters came up, one at a time, to announce their choices, which were recorded publically, almost like the scores in ball game. Generally, the totals were displayed throughout the day. The betting odds would change through the day as the counts changed and shifted. As each vote was announced, there would be cheers from the supporters of one candidate and boos from the opposition supporters. The candidate might even rise and bow to the voter who had just cast his vote for him. A candidate who was behind in the count would have his supporters attempt to find voters who favored him.
The sheriff was the manager of the election. It was he who decided if a man were entitled to vote. The sheriff also set the date of the election and the hours of the election. If the candidate favored by the sheriff was behind, the sheriff could defer the closing in the hopes that more favorable voters could be brought in.
One could vote in multiple counties. It was permitted, if you owned property in the county where you voted. A person could run for the Assembly in any county, where he owned property; he did not have to live in the county. Some of the great names in our history (George Washington, for example) took advantage of their property holdings to choose a county where their prospects were the best.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.