Dirty Election Tricks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Christine O'Donnell

O'Donnell admitted that when she was in high school, she did associate herself with people who may or may not have dabbled in witchcraft. She claimed that she never had participated in witchcraft herself. What was a relatively quiet issue blew up into the national spotlight when O'Donnell ran ads stating "Hi, I'm Christine O'Donnell and I am not a witch. I'm nothing you heard." The public saw the ad as comical and it was parodied and mocked.

She lost her Senate race to Chris Coons 57%-40%.

Answer: Texas and Illinois

Kennedy was accused of voter fraud in Texas and Illinois (and other states as well) because of his narrow wins in both states. Texas was the home of Kennedy's running mate Lyndon Johnson, who operated a well-run political machine. In Illinois, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley ran similar operations.

Investigations revealed that voter fraud and other irregularities had occurred in various places, but it seemed to be on both sides and not just Kennedy. For instance, in Texas, several counties had more votes cast than actual people who lived there. Kennedy's team pointed out that although the percentage of his win was narrow, in populous states the gap was actually quite large in actual votes and far too big to have been the result of fraud.

Answer: 1980 (when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter)

The 1980 election was a complete landslide as Reagan defeated the unpopular Carter in the electoral college 489-49.

In 1824, future president Andrew Jackson won the popular vote and the electoral vote by comfortable margins. However, he did not have the required amount of electoral votes and the election went to the House of Representatives. Adams unexpectedly won in the House. Jackson accused Adams of a "corrupt bargain" after Adams appointed Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House who led the charge for Adams, as Secretary of State.

The election of 1876 was extremely close, especially since a number of Southern states had contested results. Hayes was awarded all of those electoral votes and rumors spread about a compromise that would have awarded the presidency to Hayes in exchange for ending Reconstruction in the South. It should be noted that Hayes' opponent, Samuel Tilden won the popular vote and that this election saw the highest voter turnout in history with over 81% of eligible voters casting a ballot.

2000 saw Florida's electoral votes in doubt and the U.S. Supreme Court controversially sided with George W. Bush over Al Gore. At the time, the Court had a 5-4 conservative majority and they voted typically along ideological lines 5-4. Two conservative justices, William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor were said to have been disappointed when Gore was initially announced as the winner as they wanted to retire soon and under a president who would appoint a conservative replacement. They both sided with Bush but remained on the Court until Bush was reelected in 2004.

Answer: South Carolina

A push poll is a fake poll that is conducted, not to analyze data, but to push certain information, often false, to voters who would not approve of the message. South Carolina is a state with a history of racial tensions. The allegation that McCain allegedly fathered a black child would not have played well there.

It was also false. The idea was to suggest that McCain was unsuitable for South Carolina and that Bush would be a preferred choice. Push polling, although ethically questionable, is not illegal in the United States because of free speech protections.

Although there have been attempts to ban it, they generally have not been successful.

Answer: Lyndon Johnson's "Daisy" ad in 1964.

Fear mongering is a popular tactic used by politicians to frighten voters into casting ballots for them by saying catastrophic things will happen if his or her opponent is elected. The "Daisy" ad essentially stated that Johnson should be reelected because a Barry Goldwater presidency would lead to a nuclear war where everyone would die.

Answer: 24th Amendment

The poll tax became popular mainly in the South after the Civil War and Reconstruction. The tax, often a dollar or two, was a lot of money especially for African-Americans and poor whites at the time, and thus many were unable to vote. Poll taxes were abolished for federal elections in 1964 when the 24th Amendment was passed.

It was abolished for state elections in 1966 in the Supreme Court case Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections.

Answer: Todd Akin

Missouri, is more often than not, a Republican state and Claire McCaskill was one of the most vulnerable senators running for reelection in 2012. She was so endangered that she considered not running at all. However, a competitive Republican primary developed between Akin, State Treasurer Sarah Steelman and businessman John Brunner. Akin was by far the most conservative of those three and McCaskill knew he would be the easiest to defeat. She spent almost $2 million of her campaign's money running ads that Akin was too conservative for Missouri.

McCaskill correctly surmised that this would help Akin's standing amongst conservatives and Akin narrowly won his primary. McCaskill then stated she worried her plan would backfire and she would be responsible for electing a far-right senator. She was trailing in polling until Akin made controversial statements about rape and pregnancy, the kind of statements McCaskill was expecting and hoping he would make. She defeated Akin 55%-39%.

Answer: Elbridge Gerry

Elbridge Gerry (pronounced with a hard 'g') was vice president under James Madison. Ironically, James Madison was the first known attempted victim of gerrymandering when Patrick Henry drew Virginia's lines so that Madison would not win election to the House of Representatives. Madison was successful anyway.

Answer: Barack Obama

As per Illinois law, the governor of the state has to appoint a replacement. Blagojevich was caught allegedly trying to sell the seat (among other corruption charges.) Ultimately, Roland Burris was selected to fill the seat and he would not stand for election in 2010. Obama had vacated the seat in 2009 when he became President of the United States.

Answer: A process to determine which voters should be purged from the rolls.

Voter caging is a controversial measure. One popular caging process involves mailing brochures to registered voters. If the brochure is returned as undeliverable, the voter is often removed from the roll. In 2008, the state of Michigan was found to have illegally purged thousands of voters based on the above process.

A court reinstated those voters because the brochure could have been undeliverable for any number of reasons besides the voter no longer living at that address.