Alva Review-Courier -

With the 1876 presidential election being so close that its outcome was disputed, Congress created a 15-member commission to resolve the matter.

The question before the commission was whether to recount the ballots, have a re-vote, or accept the results as reported by state election officials.

Democrats hoped that the commissioners would decide, at the very least, to recount the ballots – but they did not. They opted to leave the results as originally counted although there was credible evidence that those results were purposely inaccurate.

The members of the commission consisted of five...