ABSTRACT
IT IS A LITTLE-KNOWN FACT that a “revolutionary Vote Recorder” was the first invention on which Thomas Edison was granted a patent. In 1869 Edison freighted his device to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate it to a congressional committee, expecting them to laud its efficiency. The way the machine worked, congressmen needed only to close a switch at their desk, and their vote would be recorded and counted by the vote recorder, situated on the clerk’s desk (Josephson 1959, 65f.). Using this ingenious device, legislative roll call could be completed in a matter of minutes, effectively cauterizing dragged-out congressional sessions. Much to Edison’s chagrin, the audience of congressional leaders rejected the vote recorder, castigating it as an enemy of minorities who deliberately attempt to gain advantage by changing votes or filibustering legislation. Rather than applauding it as an important aid to expedite the legislative process, its skeptics regarded its very speed and efficiency as a weapon against minorities.
