North Kingstown Free Library
Local History -
The 1901 Voting Machine
The fully
restored machine is currently on view in the library at the head of the stairs .
A voting
machine used in the election of 1901 in North Kingstown is now part of the library’s
local history collection. Tim Cranston, the town’s unofficial historian, discovered
the machine in the vault at Town Hall; and the Town Council donated it to the library.
The machine is of particular interest to North Kingstown and to the library
because the paper ballots are still intact on the front of the machine. In the 1901
election, William Gregory was the winning candidate for Governor of Rhode Island. William
Gregory not only lived in North Kingstown, but was also the first Chairman of the North
Kingstown Free Library Board of Trustees. Library Director Susan Aylward received a $4,000
grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to help fund the restoration of the machine and a
series of programs (held in 2004) related to the history of voting in Rhode Island.
The
restoration project was led by conservator Bruce Mason of Barrington. The paper
components were removed and sent to Northeast Documents Conservation Center for
conservation and restoration. Mr. Mason's research indicates that we
have a McTammany voting machine. John McTammany is a Scottish born inventor who is
best known for his pioneering work in the development of automatic pianos. He was
granted at least eighteen patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for voting and
related machines. His voting machines, like the automatic pianos, use the punched
paper method to record the vote.
