COURT HOUSE VOTING
Until towards the middle of the 1800’s this court house was the sole voting place in Albemarle County. Elections were held on court days. Only “Freeholders”—white, adult males owning at least twenty-five acres of land with a building on it—had the franchise. The secret ballot was unknown. Candidates were required to be present throughout the election, and by popular custom they were expected to furnish a “treat” for their followers. These supplies of food, and especially of drink, became an expense which friends sometimes had to share. Rum punch was the usual drink, although cider was also offered.
The procedure was as follows: the voting was by voice. A long table was placed in the court room. At the center of this sat the High Sheriff; on either side of him were a few of the county Justices; then at the two extreme ends were the respective candidates, each with a clerk who recorded his party’s votes. The room was open to the crowd. Singly, each voter advanced before the bench. If unchallenged, the Sheriff asked his choice and the man named his candidate. The candidate then usually rose, bowed, and expressed his thanks: “I thank you, Sir”; “You honor me, Sir.” The crowd at the same time expressed its feelings in cheers or sharp retorts. (See The Freeholder, Charles S. Sydnor, Chapel Hill Press.)
It is interesting to know that Jefferson and Monroe both voted in such elections many times. This method continued until after the death of both men.
On one occasion, April 1810, Mr. Jefferson came down hurriedly from Monticello and lobbied on this green for Monroe, who at that time was undergoing a brief decline in popular favor. The contest was for the State Assembly. The local party had gone so far as to decide to nominate another man; Mr. Jefferson’s intervention, however, nipped this in the bud; the proposed candidate withdrew at Jefferson’s solicitation; Monroe was substituted and elected.