ete law was enacted by
Massachusetts in 1888. This Massachusetts statute provided for the printing
and distribution of ballots by the state to contain the names of all
candidates arranged alphabetically for each office, the electors to vote by
marking the name of each candidate for whom they wished to vote. At the
presidential election of 1888 it was freely alleged that large sums of
money had been raised on an unprecedented scale for the purchase of votes,
and this situation created a feeling of deep alarm which gave a powerful
impetus to the movement for ballot reform. In 1889 new ballot laws were
enacted in nine states: two states bordering on Massachusetts, Connecticut
and Rhode Island; four states in the middle-west, Indiana, Michigan,
Wisconsin and Minnesota; two southern states, Tennessee and Missouri; and
Montana, in the far west. The Connecticut law, however, marked but little
improvement over former conditions, since it provided only for official
envelopes in which the unofficial party ballots should be voted. The
Indiana law provided for a single or "blanket" ballot, but with the names
of candidates arranged in party-groups, and a method of voting for all of
the candidates in a party-group by a single [v.03 p.0281] mark. Michigan
and Missouri also adopted the party-group system. The other states followed
the Massachusetts law providing for a blanket ballot with the candidates
arranged by offices.

The new ballot system had its first practical demonstration at the
Massachusetts election of 1889, and its success led to its rapid adoption
in many other states. In 1890 ballot laws were passed in seven states:
Vermont, Mississippi, Wyoming and Washington provided for the Massachusetts
plan, although Vermont afterwards adopted the system of party-groups, which
Maryland used from the first. The New York and New Jersey laws of 1890,
however, only provided for official ballots for each party, and allowed
ballots obtained outside of the polling-booths to be used. In 1891
seventeen additional states and two territories adopted the Australian
ballot system. All of these provided for a blanket ballot; but while the
Massachusetts arrangement was adopted in Arkansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire,
North and South Dakota, Kentucky, Texas and Oregon, the system of party
groups was followed in Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and West Virginia. California had the Massachusetts
arrangement of names, but added on