[Grand Old Partisan]

Thank you for your interesting reply. Ballot means piece of paper placed in a voting urn; it does not necessariy mean a government-printed form listing all candiadtes "on the ballot" from which voters check their preferences before placing it in the urn. Your point about the 1860 Republicans not "being on the ballot" is based on the faulty assumption that prior to the 1880s there were ballots to "get on". Each political party would indeed distribute its ballots, "party tickets", in a distinct color, so as to better keep track of who was voting for their party.

[4CJ]

Prior to the requirement for a ballot, most states had "voice" votes recorded in person. As you noted, later each political party would distribute ballots - most in a distinct color/size to better identify at a glance their "faithful". In the South, there were few if any "ballots" distributed for Lincoln's party - his party was a truly sectional with it's Whig tendicies/tariffs/internal improvement platform. As you yourself have observed, there were numerous "union" supporters in the South, and abolitionists as well. Given that he did have his supporters in the South, it stands to reason that if he received no votes, it was either no "ballots" with his name were available, or that the financial platform he espoused would be harmful to the Southern states.