But as the whites made up their minds to get rid of Negro rule, the clashes came frequently and always ended in the death of more Negroes than whites.* They would probably have continued with serious consequences if the whites had not eventually secured control of the government.
* Among the bloodiest conflicts were those in Louisiana at Colfax, Coushatta, and New Orleans in 1873-74, and at Vicksburg and Clinton, Mississippi, in 1874-75.
The lax election laws, framed indeed for the benefit of the party in power, gave the radicals ample opportunity to control the Negro vote.
The elections were frequently corrupt, though not a great deal of money was spent in bribery.

It was found less expensive to use other methods of getting out the vote.

The Negroes were generally made to understand that the Democrats wanted to put them back into slavery, but sometimes the leaders deemed it wiser to state more concretely that "Jeff Davis had come to Montgomery and is ready to organize the Confederacy again" if the Democrats should win; or to say that "if Carter is elected, he will not allow your wives and daughters to wear hoopskirts." In Alabama many thousand pounds of bacon and hams were sent in to be distributed among "flood sufferers" in a region which had not been flooded since the days of Noah.

The Negroes were told that they must vote right and receive enough bacon for a year, or "lose their rights" if they voted wrongly.

Ballot-box stuffing developed into an art, and each Negro was carefully inspected to see that he had the right kind of ticket before he was marched to the polls.
The inspection and counting of election returns were in the hands of the county and state boards, which were controlled by the governor, and which had authority to throw out or count in any number of votes.