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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 136/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida

the election of 1876 stemmed from Republican control of state
election machinery in Tallahassee. Of particular concern to the
Democrats was the attempt by the Republicans to arrange polling
places in the counties to their own advantage. Samuel Pasco, a
contender for the Democratic nomination for governor and later
United States Senator, protested to Governor Sterns that county
commissioners were removing precincts which had Democratic
majorities. Realizing that many potential Democrats would not
travel long distances to vote, county commissioners in some coun­
ties were concentrating polling places in the county seats. Pasco
claimed that so many polling places were being concentrated in
county seats that it obviously was directed by high state officials.
The Conservative Tallahassee Floridian noted that Columbia
County had abolished all precincts except the four in Lake City.47
This indeed was the case. Prior to the 1876 election Columbia
County had maintained the following precincts: No. 1, the court
house in Lake City; No. 2, the Colored Academy in Lake City; No.
3, Ellisville; No. 4, Benton (Cone’s store); and No. 5, the clerk’s
office in Lake City. Commissioner A. B. Hagen protested against
any changes which would make it difficult for people in outlying
areas of the county to vote, but he was overruled. On October 14,
1876, the commissioners voted to allow only four precincts—all in
Lake City. They were No. 1, the court house; No. 2, the Colored
Academy; No. 3, the clerk’s office; and No. 4, the office of the judge
of probate.48
It is interesting to note that after the election, when the
Democrats were again in control, the county commissioners ex­
panded the precincts to ten. They were: No. 1, in the northern part
of the county at the store of Epaminondas Brown (Blount’s Ferry);
47Jerrell Shofner, “Florida’s Political Reconstruction and the Presidential
Election of 1876,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University (1963),
p. 219; Tallahassee Floridian, November 7, 1876.
48County Commissioners Minutes Book No. 1, October 13, 1876, Columbia
County Courthouse.

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