The Box 13 scandal was a

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, une ...

that occurred in

Jim Wells County, Texas Jim Wells County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 38,891. The county was founded in 1911 and is named for James B. Wells, Jr. (1850-1923), for three decades a judge and Democratic Party politic ...

during the Senate election of 1948, regarding disputed votes in a Democratic primary involving Lyndon B. Johnson and

Coke Stevenson Coke Robert Stevenson (March 20, 1888 – June 28, 1975) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of Texas from 1941 to 1947. He was the first Texan politician to hold its three highest offices ( Speaker of the Texas Hous ...

Origins and investigation

On the day of the election, Johnson appeared to have lost the Democratic run-off primary to Stevenson. Six days after polls had closed, 202 additional ballots were found in Precinct 13 of Jim Wells County, 200 for Johnson and 2 for Stevenson. These resulted in a victory for Johnson, and his nomination as the Democrat in the upcoming general Senate election. Johnson went on to defeat Jack Porter of the Republican Party by a margin of 33.28% and 353,320 votes, thus becoming Senator from Texas. The recount, handled by the Democratic State Central Committee, took a week. Johnson was announced the winner by 87 votes out of 988,295, an extremely narrow margin of victory. Suspicions arose that the 202 late votes were fraudulent. The added names were in alphabetical order and written with the same pen and handwriting, at the end of the list of voters. Some of the persons in this part of the list insisted that they had not voted that day. Stevenson took the dispute to court, eventually reaching the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Johnson prevailed on the basis that jurisdiction over naming a nominee rested with the state party, not the federal government. A private, non-official investigation was started, claiming that Johnson had conspired with George Parr, a member of the

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: * Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea * Gabonese Democratic Party * ...

in Texas, to falsify ballots.

Aftermath

Election judge Luis Salas said in 1977 that he had certified 202 fraudulent ballots (200 for Johnson, 2 for Stevenson).

Robert Caro Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote '' The Power ...

made the case in his 1990 book that Johnson had stolen the election in Jim Wells County. A stage play based on the scandal, ''Box Thirteen'' by Jack Westin, was performed at the College of the Mainland Community Theatre during the 1998–1999 season.

References

Works cited

* * * * {{refend Lyndon B. Johnson Political scandals in Texas Electoral fraud in the United States 1948 in Texas