Capture lane

Electoral Manipulation

The Electoral Manipulation capture lane traces 425 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.

425 events From Sep 6, 1787 To Apr 3, 2026 Open in filter view →
Activity over time Events per year
1787 · 2 events1804 · 1 event1817 · 1 event1824 · 1 event1825 · 1 event1826 · 1 event1832 · 1 event1840 · 1 event1843 · 1 event1844 · 1 event1845 · 1 event1848 · 2 events1851 · 1 event1853 · 1 event1854 · 1 event1855 · 1 event1856 · 1 event1857 · 1 event1858 · 1 event1860 · 2 events1864 · 1 event1869 · 2 events1874 · 2 events1876 · 1 event1877 · 1 event1884 · 1 event1887 · 1 event1890 · 1 event1893 · 1 event1895 · 1 event1896 · 1 event1897 · 1 event1898 · 1 event1901 · 1 event1903 · 1 event1915 · 1 event1916 · 1 event1917 · 1 event1918 · 1 event1919 · 1 event1920 · 1 event1924 · 1 event1926 · 1 event1932 · 1 event1933 · 1 event1944 · 1 event1947 · 1 event1950 · 1 event1954 · 1 event1955 · 1 event1956 · 1 event1957 · 1 event1960 · 2 events1963 · 3 events1964 · 2 events1965 · 3 events1968 · 2 events1970 · 2 events1974 · 3 events1975 · 3 events1977 · 1 event1978 · 2 events1979 · 1 event1980 · 1 event1981 · 2 events1982 · 3 events1985 · 1 event1986 · 1 event1987 · 1 event1988 · 1 event1990 · 1 event1992 · 1 event1993 · 2 events1994 · 3 events1995 · 1 event1996 · 2 events1997 · 2 events1998 · 1 event2000 · 6 events2001 · 1 event2002 · 2 events2003 · 1 event2004 · 4 events2005 · 3 events2006 · 2 events2007 · 1 event2008 · 3 events2009 · 2 events2010 · 4 events2011 · 8 events2012 · 2 events2013 · 7 events2014 · 4 events2015 · 8 events2016 · 25 events2017 · 13 events2018 · 18 events2019 · 17 events2020 · 36 events2021 · 28 events2022 · 9 events2023 · 17 events2024 · 18 events2025 · 72 events2026 · 10 events17872026
DateEventLanesStatus
2008-01-01Hans von Spakovsky Joins Heritage Foundation to Lead Voter Suppression Infrastructure Development
Hans von Spakovsky · Heritage Foundation · American Legislative Exchange Council · Council for National Policy · +1
confirmed
2007-06-25DOJ Voting Section Politicization: Bush Administration Weaponizes Civil Rights Division for Voter Suppression
Alberto Gonzales · Hans von Spakovsky · Bradley Schlozman · John Tanner · +1
confirmed
2006-12-07Bush Administration Fires 9 U.S. Attorneys for Political Reasons
Alberto Gonzales · Karl Rove · David Iglesias · Carol Lam · +2
confirmed
2006-07-27Voting Rights Act Reauthorization of 2006: 25-Year Extension Passes with Bipartisan Supermajority Before Conservative Legal Assault
George W. Bush · U.S. Congress · James Sensenbrenner · John Lewis · +1
confirmed
2005-12-16New York Times Exposes NSA Warrantless Surveillance Program
James Risen · Eric Lichtblau · New York Times · George W. Bush · +1
confirmed
2005-08-25Hans von Spakovsky Overrules DOJ Career Staff to Approve Georgia Voter ID Law Targeting Black Voters
Hans von Spakovsky · Department of Justice Civil Rights Division · Georgia Legislature · Harold Murphy · +1
confirmed
2005-05-23Trump Launches "Trump University" Real Estate Seminars Without Academic License or Accreditation
Donald Trump · Michael Sexton
confirmed
2004-11-02Diebold Voting Machine Irregularities in Ohio 2004 Presidential Election
Walden O'Dell · John Conyers · Kenneth Blackwell · Matt Damschroder
confirmed
2004-11-02Ohio Evangelical Turnout Delivers Bush Reelection: "Values Voters" Become the Decisive Electoral Bloc
George W. Bush · Ken Blackwell · Rod Parsley · Russell Johnson
confirmed
2004-06-24Supreme Court Protects Cheney Energy Task Force Secrecy
Dick Cheney · U.S. Supreme Court · Anthony Kennedy · Antonin Scalia · +4
confirmed
2004-06-04Stewart v. Blackwell Applies Bush v. Gore Equal Protection Precedent to Ohio Voting Disparities
Sixth Circuit Court · Ohio Secretary of State · Ken Blackwell · Stewart v. Blackwell plaintiffs · +1
confirmed
2003-01-01State Policy Network Organizational Profile: Coordinating 66 State Think Tanks for Synchronized Corporate Capture
State Policy Network · Thomas A. Roe · Bradley Foundation · DonorsTrust · +5
confirmed
2002-10-29Help America Vote Act Signed: Provisional Ballots, Voter ID, and Electronic Voting Vulnerabilities
George W. Bush · U.S. Election Assistance Commission
confirmed
2002-09-15Major Network News Divisions Integrate WHIG Messaging Guidelines
White House Iraq Group · Dick Cheney · Karl Rove · Condoleezza Rice · +1
confirmed
2001-10-26Bush Signs PATRIOT Act After 45-Day Rush with Minimal Debate
George W. Bush · Russ Feingold · Tom Daschle · Jim Sensenbrenner · +1
confirmed
2000-12-12Supreme Court Delivers Partisan Bush v. Gore Decision with Corporate Legal Team Involvement
George W. Bush · Al Gore · William Rehnquist · Sandra Day O'Connor · +5
confirmed
2000-12-09Supreme Court Grants Bush Emergency Stay with Scalia's "Irreparable Harm" Logic
Antonin Scalia · Supreme Court Conservative Majority · William Rehnquist · Clarence Thomas · +2
confirmed
2000-11-26Katherine Harris Certifies Bush Victory While Serving as Campaign Co-Chair
Katherine Harris · George W. Bush · Jeb Bush · Mac Stipanovich · +1
confirmed
2000-11-08James Baker Coordinates Bush Supreme Court Election Strategy from Day One
James Baker III · Katherine Harris · George W. Bush · Mac Stipanovich · +2
confirmed
2000-01-01CNP and Federalist Society Coordination - Leonard Leo Links Judicial and Political Networks
Council for National Policy · Federalist Society · Leonard Leo · Clarence Thomas
confirmed
2000-01-01Florida Disenfranchises 1.4 Million Citizens Through Felony Voting Bans, Highest Rate in Nation
Florida Legislature · The Sentencing Project
confirmed
1998-02-07James Dobson Threatens to Lead Evangelical Exodus from GOP: Focus on the Family Demonstrates Political Leverage
James Dobson · Focus on the Family · Republican Party
confirmed
1997-10-04Promise Keepers' "Stand in the Gap" Rally Fills National Mall: Masculine Christianity as Political Infrastructure
Bill McCartney · Promise Keepers
confirmed
1997-01-01Felon Disenfranchisement Expansion: States Tighten Voting Bans as Prison Population Explodes
State Legislatures · American Legislative Exchange Council · The Sentencing Project · Republican Governors
confirmed
1996-07-03Oligarchs Bankroll Yeltsin Re-election Victory: 'Seven Bankers' Control 50-70% of Russia's Economy Through Loans-for-Shares Deal
Boris Yeltsin · Boris Berezovsky · Mikhail Khodorkovsky · Vladimir Gusinsky · +4
confirmed
1996-06-18Chinese Military Intelligence Funnels Campaign Donations Through Johnny Chung
Johnny Chung · Ji Shengde · Bill Clinton · Democratic National Committee · +1
confirmed
1995-04-01IMF Approves $6.8 Billion Russia Loan With Structural Adjustment Conditions: Second Largest Loan in IMF History Fails to Stabilize Economy
International Monetary Fund · Boris Yeltsin · Bill Clinton · G-7 · +2
confirmed
1994-11-08California Proposition 187 Passes 59-41, Galvanizes Latino Voter Mobilization
Pete Wilson · California voters · Latino civil rights organizations · American Civil Liberties Union
confirmed
1994-11-08Republicans Win Historic Midterm Election with Contract with America
Newt Gingrich · Dick Armey · Richard Mellon Scaife · Joseph Coors · +2
confirmed
1994-01-01Jack Abramoff Joins Preston Gates - Launches Tribal Lobbying Practice
Jack Abramoff · Preston Gates & Ellis · Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians · Nell Rogers · +1
confirmed
1993-05-20National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter): Expands Registration Access Despite Republican Opposition and Implementation Resistance
Bill Clinton · U.S. Congress · Republican Governors · ACORN · +1
confirmed
1993-01-01Grover Norquist Wednesday Meetings Begin - Conservative Coordination Hub
Grover Norquist · Americans for Tax Reform · Republican Congressional Leadership · K Street Lobbyists
confirmed
1992-01-01Christian Coalition Distributes 40 Million Voter Guides Through Churches: Electoral Infrastructure Embedded in Religious Institutions
Pat Robertson · Ralph Reed · Christian Coalition
confirmed
1990-01-01Union Avoidance Consulting Industry Emerges as $400+ Million Annual Business
Union avoidance consultants · Corporate employers · Labor Management Institute · National Labor Relations Board
confirmed
1988-09-21Bush Campaign Deploys Willie Horton Ad Weaponizing Racial Fear of Black Criminals
George H.W. Bush · Lee Atwater · Roger Ailes · Larry McCarthy · +3
confirmed
1987-01-01AIDS Death Toll Reaches 25,000: Reagan Administration Inaction Continues
Ronald Reagan · AIDS patients · LGBTQ community · Public health officials · +1
confirmed
1986-10-22Koop Releases AIDS Report After Five-Year Delay: Public Health vs Politics
C. Everett Koop · Ronald Reagan · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
confirmed
1985-01-01Council of Conservative Citizens Founded by Former White Citizens' Councils Members to Continue Segregationist Agenda
Robert B. Patterson · Lester Maddox · Gordon Lee Baum · Council of Conservative Citizens · +1
confirmed
1982-11-01RNC Signs Consent Decree Banning Voter Intimidation After Armed Ballot Security Task Force
Republican National Committee · Democratic National Committee · Dickinson R. Debevoise
confirmed
1982-06-29Voting Rights Act Extension of 1982: Results Test Adopted, Section 2 Strengthened After Reagan Opposition
Ronald Reagan · U.S. Congress · Bob Dole · Edward Kennedy · +2
confirmed
1982-04-25Federalist Society Organizational Profile: Judicial Pipeline and Conservative Legal Movement Infrastructure
Federalist Society · Leonard Leo · Steven Calabresi · David McIntosh · +10
confirmed
1981-05-01Tim LaHaye Founds Council for National Policy: The Shadow Network That Coordinates the American Right
Tim LaHaye · Paul Weyrich · Richard Viguerie · Howard Phillips · +2
confirmed
1981-01-01Reagan Administration Muzzles Surgeon General Koop on AIDS for Five Years
C. Everett Koop · Ronald Reagan · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
confirmed
1980-11-04Ronald Reagan Elected President, Conservative Infrastructure Achieves Powell Memo Goals
Ronald Reagan · Heritage Foundation · Paul Weyrich · Edwin Feulner · +3
confirmed
1979-06-01Moral Majority Founded - Corporate Agenda Masked by Religious Cultural Warfare
Paul Weyrich · Jerry Falwell · Richard Viguerie · Howard Phillips · +3
confirmed
1978-11-07Business Roundtable Coordinates First Major Corporate PAC Election Strategy
Business Roundtable · Reginald Jones · Corporate PAC Committee · Republican Party
confirmed
1978-04-26Powell delivers Bellotti decision establishing corporate First Amendment rights
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · Supreme Court of the United States · First National Bank of Boston · Francis X. Bellotti · +1
confirmed
1977-01-01National Association of Business PACs Founded to Coordinate Corporate Political Money
National Association of Business Political Action Committees
confirmed
1975-08-06Voting Rights Act Extension of 1975: Expands Protection to Language Minorities Including Latino, Asian, and Native American Voters
Gerald Ford · U.S. Congress · Barbara Jordan · Edward Roybal · +1
confirmed
1975-04-14Federal Election Commission Begins Operations, Institutionalizing Corporate PAC Framework
Federal Election Commission · President Gerald Ford
confirmed
1975-02-21Nixon Top Aides Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell Sentenced to Prison for Watergate Cover-up
H.R. Haldeman · John Ehrlichman · John N. Mitchell · John Sirica
confirmed
1974-10-15FECA Amendments Enable Corporate PAC Formation, Triggering 1,600% Growth
U.S. Congress · Federal Election Commission
confirmed
1974-08-09Richard Nixon Becomes First U.S. President to Resign, Gerald Ford Sworn In as 38th President
Richard Nixon · Gerald Ford · Spiro Agnew
confirmed
1974-01-01Weyrich Founds Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, Expanding Infrastructure
Paul Weyrich · Joseph Coors
confirmed
1970-06-22Voting Rights Act Extension of 1970: Nationwide Literacy Test Ban and Voting Age Lowered to 18
Richard Nixon · U.S. Congress · Emanuel Celler · Attorney General John Mitchell
confirmed
1970-01-01Richard Viguerie Pioneers Computerized Direct Mail, Revolutionizing Conservative Fundraising
Richard Viguerie · Paul Weyrich · Howard Phillips · Terry Dolan
confirmed
1968-11-05Nixon Wins Presidency Using Southern Strategy Based on Racial Resentment
Richard Nixon · Kevin Phillips · H.R. Haldeman · George Wallace · +1
confirmed
1968-10-22Nixon Campaign Sabotages Vietnam Peace Talks Through Anna Chennault to Win Election - Johnson Calls It Treason
Richard Nixon · Anna Chennault · H.R. Haldeman · John Mitchell · +3
confirmed
1965-09-08Delano Grape Strike Launches UFW Movement, Challenges Agricultural Corporations
United Farm Workers · Cesar Chavez · Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee · Delano Grape Growers
confirmed
1965-03-11Reverend James Reeb Dies After White Supremacist Attack in Selma, Killers Acquitted by All-White Jury
James Reeb · Elmer Cook · William Stanley Hoggle · Namon O'Neal Hoggle · +1
confirmed
1965-03-07Alabama State Troopers Attack Voting Rights Marchers on Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Bloody Sunday
John Lewis · Hosea Williams · Alabama State Troopers · Amelia Boynton · +1
confirmed
1964-06-21Mississippi Burning Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner During Freedom Summer Voter Registration
James Chaney · Andrew Goodman · Michael Schwerner · Ku Klux Klan · +6
confirmed
1964-01-2324th Amendment Ratified Abolishing Poll Tax in Federal Elections After Decades of Voter Suppression
U.S. Congress · State Legislatures · Civil rights movement
confirmed
1963-09-15KKK Bombs 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Killing Four Young Girls
Ku Klux Klan · Robert Chambliss · Thomas Blanton · Bobby Frank Cherry · +1
confirmed
1963-08-28March on Washington Draws 250,000 for Jobs and Freedom as MLK Delivers I Have a Dream Speech
Martin Luther King Jr. · Bayard Rustin · A. Philip Randolph · John F. Kennedy · +1
confirmed
1963-08-01Business-Industry Political Action Committee Founded as First Corporate PAC
Business-Industry Political Action Committee · National Association of Manufacturers · BIPAC
confirmed
1960-05-06Civil Rights Act of 1960: Voting Referees and Criminal Penalties Still Prove Inadequate Against Southern Resistance
Dwight D. Eisenhower · U.S. Congress · Lyndon B. Johnson · Southern Democrats · +1
confirmed
1960-02-01Greensboro Four Launch Sit-In Movement at Woolworth Lunch Counter Challenging Segregation
Ezell Blair Jr. · David Richmond · Franklin McCain · Joseph McNeil · +1
confirmed
1957-09-09Civil Rights Act of 1957: First Federal Voting Rights Law Since Reconstruction Passes Despite Southern Filibuster
Dwight D. Eisenhower · Lyndon B. Johnson · Strom Thurmond · Richard Russell · +2
confirmed
1956-03-29Mississippi Creates State Sovereignty Commission for Civil Rights Surveillance and Segregationist Funding
Mississippi Legislature · Ross Barnett · Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission · White Citizens' Councils
confirmed
1955-08-28Emmett Till Murdered in Mississippi After Accusation from White Woman
Roy Bryant · J.W. Milam · Mamie Till · Tallahatchie County Sheriff
confirmed
1954-12-02Senate Votes 67-22 to Censure Joseph McCarthy Ending Four Years of Terror
Joseph McCarthy · Ralph Flanders · Arthur Watkins · Margaret Chase Smith
confirmed
1950-06-01Margaret Chase Smith Delivers Declaration of Conscience Against McCarthy Witch Hunt
Margaret Chase Smith · Joseph McCarthy · Wayne Morse · George Aiken · +4
confirmed
1947-06-23Anti-Communist Loyalty Oaths and Taft-Hartley Act Weaponized to Crush Labor Movement
Robert A. Taft · Fred A. Hartley · CIO · AFL · +1
confirmed
1944-04-03Smith v. Allwright: Supreme Court Strikes Down White Primaries, Opening Democratic Party to Black Voters
U.S. Supreme Court · Stanley Reed · Thurgood Marshall · NAACP Legal Defense Fund · +2
confirmed
1933-01-15Ferdinand Pecora Appointed Chief Counsel to Senate Banking Investigation
Ferdinand Pecora · Senator Peter Norbeck · Senator Duncan Fletcher · U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency
confirmed
1932-07-28MacArthur Uses Tanks and Tear Gas to Violently Suppress Bonus Army of 43,000 Veterans
Douglas MacArthur · Herbert Hoover · Dwight D. Eisenhower · Walter Waters · +2
confirmed
1926-08-06Gertrude Ederle Swims English Channel But Era Constrains Women's Progress
Gertrude Ederle · Women's Sports Organizations
confirmed
1924-06-02Revenue Act of 1924 Continues Mellon Tax Cuts for Wealthy, Lowers Top Rate to 46%
Andrew Mellon · Calvin Coolidge · U.S. Congress · Republican Party
confirmed
1920-08-18Tennessee Becomes 36th State to Ratify 19th Amendment as Women Win Right to Vote
Harry T. Burn · Febb E. Burn · Tennessee General Assembly · Carrie Chapman Catt · +1
confirmed
1919-06-04Senate Passes 19th Amendment Sending Women's Suffrage to States for Ratification
U.S. Senate · U.S. House of Representatives · Woodrow Wilson · National American Woman Suffrage Association · +1
confirmed
1918-01-09Wilson Reverses Position and Endorses Women's Suffrage Amendment After Prison Brutality Exposed
Woodrow Wilson · Alice Paul · National Woman's Party · U.S. Congress
confirmed
1917-06-22First Suffragist Arrests Begin for White House Picketing as State Repression Escalates
Alice Paul · Lucy Burns · National Woman's Party · Woodrow Wilson · +1
confirmed
1916-01-01Corporate Interests Mobilize Systematic Opposition to Women's Suffrage to Protect Profits
Liquor Industry · Textile Manufacturers · Railroad companies · National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage
confirmed
1915-06-21Guinn v. United States: Supreme Court Strikes Down Grandfather Clauses as Fifteenth Amendment Violation
U.S. Supreme Court · Chief Justice Edward White · Oklahoma Legislature · NAACP
confirmed
1903-04-27Giles v. Harris: Supreme Court Refuses to Enforce Black Voting Rights Against Alabama Constitution
U.S. Supreme Court · Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. · Jackson Giles · Alabama Legislature · +1
confirmed
1901-05-21Alabama Constitutional Convention: White Supremacy Constitution Becomes Blueprint for Southern Disenfranchisement
John Knox · Alabama Legislature · Democratic Party · Black Belt Planters
confirmed
1898-11-10Wilmington Massacre and Coup: Armed White Supremacists Overthrow Elected Government, Murder Black Citizens
Alfred Moore Waddell · Furnifold Simmons · Red Shirts · Wilmington Black Community · +1
confirmed
1897-07-24Dingley Tariff Enacts Highest Protective Rates in History - Corporate Shield
William McKinley · Nelson Dingley Jr. · Republican Party · Industrial trusts · +1
confirmed
1896-07-09William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech - Populist Challenge to Corporate Power
William Jennings Bryan · Democratic National Convention · Populist Party · Eastern banking interests · +1
confirmed
1895-01-01J.P. Morgan Railroad Reorganizations Create Consolidated Monopoly Systems
J.P. Morgan · J.P. Morgan & Company · Southern Railway · Erie Railroad · +1
confirmed
1893-11-07Colorado Voters Approve Women's Suffrage Through Referendum in Historic First
Colorado voters · Populist Party · Carrie Chapman Catt · Ellis Meredith
confirmed
1890-02-18National American Woman Suffrage Association Formed as Merger Heals 21-Year Split
Alice Stone Blackwell · Elizabeth Cady Stanton · Susan B. Anthony · Lucy Stone · +2
confirmed
1887-07-06Armed Militia Forces King Kalakaua to Sign "Bayonet Constitution," Stripping Hawaiian Sovereignty and Disenfranchising Native Hawaiians
King Kalakaua · Hawaiian League · Sanford B. Dole · Lorrin Thurston · +5
confirmed
1884-11-04Cleveland Election Marks Shift Toward Corporate Campaign Financing
Grover Cleveland · James G. Blaine · U.S. Congress
confirmed
1877-02-26Compromise of 1877: Wormley Agreement Abandons Black Americans
Rutherford B. Hayes · Southern Democrats · Northern Republicans · Disenfranchised Black Americans
confirmed
1876-07-08Hamburg Massacre: Red Shirts Murder Black Militia to Suppress Voting
Red Shirts · Benjamin Tillman · Wade Hampton III · Matthew Butler · +1
confirmed
1874-11-18Woman's Christian Temperance Union Founded Creating Alliance and Opposition to Suffrage
Frances Willard · Annie Wittenmyer · Woman's Christian Temperance Union · Liquor Industry
confirmed
1874-09-14Battle of Liberty Place: White League Stages Armed Coup Against Louisiana Government
White League · James Longstreet · William Pitt Kellogg · Ulysses S. Grant · +1
confirmed
1869-12-10Wyoming Territory Becomes First in U.S. to Grant Women Full Voting Rights
Wyoming Territorial Legislature · Esther Hobart Morris · William Bright · Wyoming Territory
confirmed