Recount and Fraud in the 1922 Primary Election for Governor

In the 1922 race for Oregon Governor, the general election with the Klan-associated Walter Pierce winning has got most of the attention.

In Roseburg (l) and Portland (r), May 20th, 1922

The Republican primary was also interesting and had its own version of election denialism. The explicit Klan candidate Senator Charles Hall of Marshfield claimed he won over incumbent Ben Olcott and forced a recount effort. The vote had been so very close, nearly tied. Some early returns found Hall ahead.

February 23rd, 1922

The Klan undertook serious fund-raising for the recount.

July 22nd, 1922

After a couple of weeks, investigators indeed found fraud, but it was in the other direction. Hall's partisans affiliated with the Klan had executed the funny business! The total amount was very small, however, and did not alter any outcome.

August 10th, 1922

August 22nd, 1922

In Portland an election board official was indicted for fraud.

August 26th, 1922

Feb. 27th, 1923

The Salem papers do not seem to have published any verdict.

The afternoon paper here had noted Hall had argued promiscuously for "law and order" and his own "patriotism." That's a type we surely recognize today.

August 29th, 1922

Oregon Voter later in the year scrubbed him a little, trying to create some distance and saying

It was the Federation [of Patriotic Societies] and not the Klan which was responsible for Hall's candidacy. The Klan favored another aspirant, and supported Hall indifferently - if it had supported him loyally he would have been nominated by a considerable majority.

Oregon Voter, Dec 30th, 1922

You may recall that Fred Gifford, head of the Oregon Klan, was also a principal in the Federation of Patriotic Societies. This arrangement kept them as technically separate organizations, but ensured coordination and overlap. The relation broke down some later in the fall as personal rivalries interfered with the shared political agenda.

In September of 1922, Hall filed to run for Governor as an independent, in a three-way race with Pierce and Olcott.

But hardly two weeks after filing, he was persuaded to withdraw and threw his support to Pierce.

September 22nd, 1922

Hall doesn't appear much in the papers during the 1923 Legislative session, and it is not clear he was a key player at the State level.

See also:

• "The Hall Building: A history. Coos Bay's shadow of hate" (2019)
• Paper Fight: The Coos Bay Times and the Ku Klux Klan (2014) by Jon Littlefield, which the Coos History Museum says has a good biography of Charles Hall. This was not available to me.
  
• And here on the election and a little on the Federation of Patriotic Societies, "Reassessing Asahel Bush and the 1922 Election: Our Problematic Legacies."