Charlton Courthouse was once the place to be on election night.

The Charlton County Courthouse, (pictured) was often the scene of
election night pranks, some sending candidates home thinking they
were beaten, but later found out they were victims of an election
night prank.

Charlton County's courthouse, standing like a silent sentinel at the east end of Folkston's Main Street, has witnessed hundreds of elections, many colorful events that help shape the county's political history.

In the 1950s, the county's aging clerk, John Harris, oversaw most of those elections. Voters would vote in what is now the County Commission Offices, standing in the courthouse hall while waiting their turn to cast their paper ballots. Back just after the elimination of Georgia's "White Primary" laws, few blacks bothered to vote. When they did, they braved a series of stern looks from those in charge of the elections.

One of Charlton's first Republican voters was a black school bus driver, T. L. (Buddy) Jones. He usually was the only black to cast his ballot in those early elections. John Harris, anxious to learn how Jones had voted, handed him a red colored pencil with which to mark his ballot. At the vote counting, Harris would point out to the other election workers Jones ballot, marked with a red pencil, the only ballot not using a black pencil for ballot marking. Jones soon got word of Harris' scheme and took his own black pencil to the polls when voting in later elections.

Many election pranks found their way into the election process, especially late at night when the ballots were being counted. In one election, State Ben Rodgers was running for re-election. He was being challenged by George Crews of Winokur, a retired state highway employee. While the ballots were being counted, a group had gathered in the vote-counting room. Among those onlookers was Folkston physician, Dr. Joe Jackson.

Doctor Jackson and a fellow conspirator, Homer Allen, hit upon a scheme to liven up the vote counting process. They would lay out uncounted ballots to make the counting easier for the vote counters.

Rodgers and Crews were running tit for tat in the vote counting around nine o'clock that night. Jackson and Allen decided to have some fun. They pulled out scores of ballots choosing Crews over Rodgers. Rodgers was outside in the courthouse hall, getting periodic updates on the vote counting inside the room.

Jackson and Allen neatly laid out around 60 ballots, all marked for Crews over Rodgers. The deep voice of Harris could be heard calling out time and again "Crews". No votes for Rodgers were heard for what seemed like an hour. Crews informal tally brought him from behind to well into the lead over Rodgers as the prank came into play.

Rodgers, listening at the closed door outside the vote counting room, soon became worried. His lead had vanished and now he was behind, and getting further behind as the Crews ballots were counted. He turned to his supporters, "Well it looks like I'm beat" he said, with a long face. "I'm not going to stay up here and listen to any more of this, I'm going home and go to bed" he opined. He did. It was just after 10 p.m. with hundreds of more votes still to be counted.

Then, after Rodgers had left, the stacked Crews votes began to vanish. From there out Harris could only say, time and again, "Rodgers". The Crews lead vanished and Rodgers won the election by over a hundred votes. Rodgers friends made their way to the Rodgers home and woke Rodgers, telling him of his victory. He, at first, thought they were ribbing him. He could not believe the turn in fortunes. But when told of the prank of Doctor Jackson and Homer Allen, he understood it all. With a wide grin, Rodgers told his friends, that he thought "something was up." Doctor Jackson and Allen enjoyed the excitement caused by their prank for weeks. Rodgers didn't share in their enthusiasm. That was but one of the scores of antics that used to liven up the monotonous job of counting paper ballots late into election nights, and sometimes, ending up just before noon the following day

Inside that courthouse, election nights were an "event". In the 1950s, the smell of whiskey in the men's room would take the breath of most, but every few minutes numbers could be seen making their way into the restroom to 'have another nip". When the night was over, dozens would be out of control, especially those who saw their candidates beaten. Fights outside in the courthouse yard were not uncommon. Usually just before daylight, a "graveyard" was built by supporters of winning candidates. Colorful crosses were hastily made with sarcastic phrases and placed upon the graves of the losers.

Now, the election process is much tamer. Paper ballots have long been replaced by voting machines, and much of the excitement of the past is but a memory of those who took part in those early elections of the 1950s.