![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-211pinsker\/files\/2010\/10\/GunboatCand5w-300x227.jpg\")
<\/a>importance to\u00a0the soldiers fighting in the Civil War.\u00a0A strong commander in chief of the army could be a matter of life or death. Campaigners tried to depict their opponent as a weak military leader as in The Gunboat Canidate comic shown here.\u00a0Lincoln was aware\u00a0of how much the right to vote would mean to soldiers, and to his successful candidacy,\u00a0so he\u00a0worked hard in the\u00a0months leading up to the election to insure that soldiers in the field would have their votes count. \u00a0In previous off-year elections the military<\/a> proved to be one of Lincoln’s largest demographics. This\u00a0advantage was not one he was about to let go of. According to the New\u00a0York Herald<\/a>,\u00a0as the winter approached, fighting started to cease and the election “kept our brave army in almost comparative idleness for two weeks.” The nation turned its focus onto the campaign between Lincoln and McClellan. In the days leading up to the election, voting became the most important battle<\/a> for the Union.<\/p>\nSimply delaying fighting was not enough to ensure that every soldier, many of whom were far from home, would get the opportunity to cast their ballots. At the\u00a0start of the war absentee voting was unnecessary and almost unheard of. Many worried that such a system would lead to fraud and corruption. Governer Horatio Seymour<\/a> claimed that absentee voting was unconstitutional, and he tried to prevent its passage into law. However, most politicians knew that they needed the support of soldiers to win. They\u00a0began to think of ways in which their votes could\u00a0be counted from the field.\u00a0 According to historian Alexander Keyssar, \u201cfor the first time, states were obliged to contend head-on with the issue of absentee voting\u2026nineteen states enacted laws allowing soldiers in the field to vote\u201d (Keyssar, The Right to Vote<\/em>, 83). Different political groups lobbied for a variety of strategies to ensure that their candidate would receive representation. These strategies<\/a> included passing out pamphlets and ballots to soldiers, sending representatives to the field to make sure votes were counted, and a system called vote by proxy. Voting by proxy allowed soldiers to mail their ballots home. This was the form of absentee voting that was eventually turned into law in April of 1963.<\/p>\n