With the general election only one month away, two of Bedford’s election-related artifacts, a 19th-century ballot box and a 20th-century voting machine will be a special feature in the Historical Society’s museum until Election Day on November 5th.
This ballot box was used in Bedford in the late 19th century for local, state, and national elections–for example, the elections of Presidents Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. It was later abandoned in the Old Town Hall attic, with the box framework damaged and splattered with paint and the mechanism frozen. The Historical Society rescued it and has preserved the box while restoring the mechanism so that it can function. During elections, ballots that collected in the bottom of the ballot box had to be retrieved and counted by hand.
The voting machine, used in the late 20th century, represents 100 years of technological advancement. After pressing down the desired tabs for their chosen candidates, the voter would move a large lever to automatically record their votes for all selected candidates.
You can see these artifacts in person at the Historical Society’s museum on the ground floor of Old Town Hall, 16 South Road, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Election Day on November 5th.
