It was sixty years ago when corrupt officials, determined to continue the tradition of stuffing ballot boxes with pre-marked ballots in their favor, were faced with an uprising by an armed militia of World War II veterans determined to put an end to the practice.
The veterans surrunded the courthouse of Athens and, using parked cars as a barrier, engaged in a pitched gun battle with the corrupt city officials barricaded inside the building, while supporters of the veterans served them refreshments.
It was a surreal event, and seemed to take on almost a carnival type atmosphere. The city officials, nevertheless, held out for a long time, but eventually gave in when the veterans made use of dynamite. Following this, the ballot boxes were surendered and the veterans ensured the ballots were proper;y counted. Their candidates were declared the victors.
Now in their eighties, the survivors of this historical event recently celebrated this little known nor remembered occassion, which occurred sixty years ago in Athens-not Athen,s Greece, however, but in Athens, Tennessee.
Now, they bemoan the fact that voting for the primary this coming Tuesday is projected to be about 35%.
Said one witness to the event, "the lesson is that people ought to take voting a whole lot more seriously than they do and not let things get out of hand."
The link to the entire story is in the post title.
