Did voting kill Edgar Allan Poe?

One of the most interesting theories surrounding the death of Edgar Allan Poe is that it was related to his participation in election fraud. Apparently, local party bosses used to have the local bars closed on election day so they could round up the town drunks and take them to all the local voting places. At each voting location, the bosses would arrange for the drunks to vote and then reward them for doing their civic duty by providing the drunks plenty of their favorite liquid refreshment. So the more times the drunks voted the more liquor they got. According to the legend, Poe was overcome by a love of democracy and voted so much that he ended up drinking himself to death!

While this is may be an urban legend, all of us should ponder the dangers of excessive voting.

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7:14 pm on November 1, 2004