Absentee Ballots
These images contain legal documents for Samuel Auchmoody, a Union soldier who cast an absentee vote in the Election of 1864. This election was the first to establish a widespread use of absentee voting for soldiers, significantly impacting the use of absentee and mail-in voting for the future of the United States.
Description
These images depict pictures of the two legal documents required for soldiers to cast an absentee vote. The first document is Samuel Auchmoody’s Power of Attorney. The document is standard size, estimated to be 8.5 by 14 inches and still appears white with clean edges despite its years of age. The top of this document reads that Auchmoody can cast his vote while away in the military due to recent legislation passed. The following part of the document listed South Carolina as the sender’s address, where Auchmoody was serving. It acknowledges how he wishes to cast his vote in his hometown of New Paltz and allows his attorney, Morris Wurts, to do so. The final part of this document is a signature from witness Wright Auchmoody, allowing the document to be finalized.
The second document is the Affidavit of the absent elector, Auchmoody. This document is much smaller in size and is also yellow with ripped edges on the right side. The Affidavit acknowledges that Auchmoody has been a United States citizen, is of age to vote, and confirms his hometown residence. The Affidavit also states that Auchmoody is actually serving in the military and has no wagers placed in the elections.
Provenance
Samuel Freer Auchmoody was born in 1848 in Ulster County, New York. Beyond those baseline details (along with his enlistment) there is limited information available about him. Both items would have begun in Samuel F. Auchmoody’s possession, where he originally signed off on documents in the presence of witness Wright Auchmoody, who bore Samuel’s last name. Being a legal document required for voting, it is assumed to have been filed by the Town of New Paltz for decades after its submission. It is currently preserved and maintained by Historic Huguenot Street in the Daniel and Simon DuBois Family Papers collection.
Narrative
The election in 1864 was one of the most controversial elections in history. Occurring during the Civil War, what set this election apart from others was the widespread ability for soldiers to cast absentee ballots. Absentee and mail-in ballots are now more common than ever and have grown in importance due to their convenience and accessibility to citizens who can’t vote in person on Election Day. These objects aid in exploring the history of elections and uncovering the origin of this legal expansion of voting rights.
The two candidates in the 1864 Election were Abraham Lincoln, who ran for the Republican Party, and General George B. McClellan, who ran for the Democratic Party. According to Jessica Pearce Rotondi’s article on absentee voting’s origins, Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, believed strongly in democratic principles and felt all citizens should be able to cast their vote in an election, even those fighting the frontlines of war. “We cannot have free government without elections,” said Lincoln to a crowd outside the White House in 1864. “If the rebellion could force us to forgo, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have conquered and ruined us” (Rotandi). Lincoln wanted to ensure a democratic election, as well as hear the opinions of his soldiers, which significantly contributed to his victory in the election. Rotondi states that, “Approximately 150,000 out of one million soldiers voted in the election, and Lincoln carried a whopping 78 percent of the military vote” (Rotondi). Lincoln’s victory in the election had multiple effects on both democracy and the future of elections in America.
Absentee balloting was primarily carried out by proxy voting, where soldiers would authorize another person, ideally someone who would be present in their hometown on election day, to cast a ballot on their behalf. For Samuel Auchmoody, he authorized Morris Wurts to vote, though neither document details any candidate of choice. This information could have been privately communicated at a separate time, but regardless, both of these legal documents were required for soldiers to vote by proxy. These documents are to ensure the vote’s authenticity and keep the election democratic.
An alternative form of voting during this period was direct voting stations at the regiment’s site. “...a polling site would be set up by officers, overseen by appointed clerks or state officials, and the soldiers could deposit their ballots in a voting box, which would then be sent back to their home precinct” (Pence Law Library). This was the earliest form of mail-in ballot available during the Civil War, allowing soldiers another way to vote.
Back in New Paltz, residents were being informed of this new change. According to a New Paltz Times article from the period, friends and relatives to soldiers overseas were urged to “procure tickets at once and forward them to the soldier, with an urgent request that they be promptly returned with the necessary authority (New Paltz Times). Though this article cast doubt on the effectiveness of committees overseeing absentee voting, the volatile nature of the election compelled as much mobilization as possible, especially for those on the battlefield. In the end, New York had the slimmest voting margin in the 1864 election, with 730,721 total voters participating. Lincoln won by a mere 6,749 votes, or by 0.92%, winning 33 electoral votes. This victory would help secure Lincoln the election and would become the spark that would radically revise voting structures for decades to come.
After the widespread use of proxy voting and mail-in ballots for military personnel during the Civil War, the idea to make voting more convenient and accessible continued into the late 19th century, when several states began to offer mail-in ballots for soldiers or absentee voting for those with a legitimate reason other than military service. The voting pool also increased with the passage of the 15th and 19th amendments in 1870 and 1920, respectively. Although more people were able to vote than ever before, there were continued limitations and restrictions that put significant strain on voters arriving at the polls on election day. Additionally, workers for industrial companies like railroads or transportation of goods throughout the country argued that their jobs also required “tolling and sacrificing” like the military, and they wanted similar rights as well.
Finally, in 1978, California became the first state to allow voters to apply for an absentee ballot without a reason. In addition, “legislation passed throughout the next few decades made voting easier for servicemen and women and their families: The Federal Voting Assistance Act of 1955; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) in 1986; and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment, or MOVE Act, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009” (Rotondi). These laws further bolstered the accessibility of absentee and vote-by-mail ballot systems over a century after Samuel Auchmoody and thousands of other soldiers participated in this system.
The ability to vote absently has conversely raised citizens’ concerns regarding the election’s legitimacy. This has been seen in almost all elections since 1864, but notably in the 2020 election, where mail-in ballots were used at an all-time rate for the first time in years because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Election officials, however, continue to assure that “American voters can count on vote-by-mail programs being ‘safe and secure.’ What’s also certain is that the 2020 Election is another milestone in the centuries-long history of voting by mail” (Waxman).
Mail-in ballots offer a more accessible option to those who may not have had the option to vote in the past due to their circumstances, as evidenced by its uses in the Civil War to today, reaching communities that would have otherwise been disadvantaged at the polls. Whether a citizen is in the military, working, or simply cannot show up on election day, this more than a century-and-a-half year old system has enabled countless more voters to cast their ballots.
~Sarah Marin, Revised by Sara Vala
Works Cited
Biggers, Daniel R., and Michael J. Hanmer. “Who Makes Voting Convenient? Explaining the Adoption of Early and No-Excuse Absentee Voting in the American States.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 2, 11 Feb. 2015, pp. 192–210, gvpt.umd.edu/sites/gvpt.umd.edu/files/pubs/Biggers%20and%20Hanmer%20SPPQ%20early%20and%20no-excuse%20absentee%20voting%20adoption.pdf, doi.org/10.1177/1532440015570328. Accessed 1 Nov. 24.
Catlin, Roger. “What the Long History of Mail-in Voting in the U.S. Reveals about the Election Process.” Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Oct. 2024, smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/what-the-long-history-of-mail-in-voting-in-the-us-reveals-about-the-election-process-180985195/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024
Clay, Khelani. “LibGuides: Voting Resources: Voting: A History.” Wcl.american.libguides.com, 16 Sept. 2024, wcl.american.libguides.com/voting/history. Accessed 17 Sept. 2025.
“HHS_MSS008_000_002_p064.” Oclc.org, 2019, nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll153/id/593/rec/19. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Leip, David. “1864 Presidential General Election Results - New York.” Uselectionatlas.org, 2024, uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1864&fips=36&f=0&off=0&elect=0. Accessed 17 Sept. 2025.
Library of Congress. “U.S. Constitution.” Constitution.congress.gov, Library of Congress, 1787, constitution.congress.gov/constitution/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Rotondi, Jessica Pearce. “Vote by Mail Programs Date back to the Civil War.” HISTORY, 24 Sept. 2020, history.com/news/vote-by-mail-soldiers-war. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
“Soldier’s Power of Attorney, Samuel Auchmoody.” Oclc.org, 2019, nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll153/id/0/rec/1. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Stilwell, Blake. “How Absentee Voting for US Troops Won the Civil War and Ended Slavery.” Military.com, 22 Apr. 2020, military.com/military-life/how-absentee-voting-us-troops-won-civil-war-and-ended-slavery.html. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
“To the Relatives and Friends of the Soldiers.” The New Paltz Times, 7 Oct. 1864.
Waxman, Olivia. “A Brief History of Voting by Mail.” Time, 28 Sept. 2020, time.com/5892357/voting-by-mail-history/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.