The Wilton League of Women Voters, the Wilton Library and the Wilton Historical Society are hosting a community program featuring Alicia Cheng, who will speak about her recent book, This is What Democracy Looked Like: A Visual History of the Printed Ballot. The event is on Sunday, March 24, at 3 p.m. in the Wilton Library.
Cheng’s book, the first illustrated history of printed ballot design, illuminates the noble but often flawed process at the heart of American democracy. An exploration and celebration of U.S. ballots from the 19th and early 20th centuries, this visual history reveals unregulated, outlandish, and, at times, absurd designs that reflect the explosive growth and changing face of the voting public. The ballots offer insight into a pivotal time in American history — a period of tectonic shifts in the electoral system — fraught with electoral fraud, disenfranchisement, scams, and skullduggery, as parties printed their own tickets and voters risked their lives going to the polls. Cheng will present and discuss some of the remarkably varied and colorful formats of electoral ballots in American democracy’s early days.
Cheng currently serves as the Head of Design at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also serves as an external critic for the MFA program at the Rhode Island School of Design and has taught at Yale University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Barnard College, and the Cooper Union School of Art.
Connecticut Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas is expected to attend the event. Elm Street Books will be selling copies of the book and Cheng will sign them after the talk, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting Wilton Library.
Registration is requested. Register online or by calling 203.762.6334. For more information, visit the library website or reach out via email.