The artist charges the Republicans with electoral fraud and obstructionism in their efforts to defeat Democratic presidential nominee George B. McClellan. Oblique reference is also made to Lincolnís supposed advocacy of equal rights for blacks.
A ragged black soldier points a bayonet at a maimed white Union veteran, preventing him from placing his vote for McClellan in an already stuffed ballot box. The former says, "Hallo dar! you cant put in dat you copperhead traitor, no any oder Ďcept for Massa Lincoln!!" The one-legged, one-armed soldier replies, "I am n American citizen and did not think I had fought and bled for this. Alas my country!"
A worried election worker wearing spectacles tells his heavy-set colleague, "Iím afraid we shall have trouble if that soldier is not allowed to vote." But the second responds, "Gammon, Hem
just turn round, you must pretend you see nothing of the kind going on, and keep on counting your votes." Two townsmen converse in the background beneath a sign reading "Vote Here."
Source: American Political Prints, 1766 - 1876: A Catalog of the Collections in the Library of Congress, 1991, by Bernard F. Reilly, Jr.