vote early and often

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 9/28/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> On 9/28/06, Dennis Baron <debaron at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I'm trying to pin down "vote early and often." Is there a source for
> > this oft-repeated adage about Chicago politics?
>
> Variations on the phrase appear as early as 1858 on Proquest, and not
> in a Chicago-specific context. It was apparently already a known
> expression by then.

L. J. Bigelow's _Bench and bar: a complete digest of the wit, humor,
asperities, and amenities of the law_ (1867) attributes the expression
to John Van Buren (son of Martin):

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http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa&cc=moa&xc=1&idno=ady1104.0001.001&g=moagrp&view=image&seq=165
To Mr. Van Buren belongs the paternity of another phrase as frequently
used as the above. "Vote early and vote often" was the witty advice
which he gave a Democratic meeting twenty odd years ago.
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--Ben Zimmer

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