my favourite part of electoral law are the really specific bits that exist because someone pulled some shenanigans in the 19th century. it is specifically illegal to entice the voter with a small, delicious cake
it is an offence to fraudulently shave an irishman and present him as an election officer, in order to seize votes for your opponent and dump the boxes into the river
it is an offence to menace voters with a crossbow in order to secure their votes
It is an offence to paint a replica polling station on a cliff, such that voters are deceived into running into it and injuring themselves
It is an offence to falsely claim to have served in the relief of General Gordon’s force at Khartoum for electoral gain
It is an offence to lure the voter into a steamship that plies a languorous course through Cardiff Bay such that he is unable to cast his vote before polls close
It is an offence to spin the voter around by the shoulders in order to disorient him before voting
It is an offence for two presiding officers to claim that one only lies and the other only tells the truth
