On Mon, 14 Jan 2008, B. wrote:
> Of course, I dunno how many stayed away from the polls, or if they were
> rigged, or what.
I think you hit it on the head there. And I think the article you cite is
probably the ur-source of this figure. But if you go further on, it makes
clear that this was a non-secret ballot with threats for disobedience
explicit; plus all "spoiled" ballots were cast aside rather than counted
as nos, which is absurd when it's a two-box ballot and the spoiling
consisted of things like writing commie slogans on your ballot. And
adding insult to injury, Hitler got the majority of Jewish votes and
99.99% of all votes in Dachau. So yeah, I think it was probably rigged
:o)
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/61/198.html
<snip>
The German people were asked to vote whether they approved the
consolidation of the offices of President and Chancellor in a single
Leader-Chancellor personified by Adolf Hitler. By every appeal known to
skillful politicians and with every argument to the contrary
suppressed, they were asked to make their approval unanimous.
Nevertheless 10 per cent of the voters have admittedly braved possible
consequences by answering "No" and nearly [text unreadable] made their
answers, ineffective by spoiling the simplest of ballots. There was a
plain short question and two circles, one labeled "Yes" and the other
"No," in one of which the voter had to make a cross. Yet there were
nearly 1,000,000 spoiled ballots.
The results given out by the Propaganda Ministry early this morning
show that out of a total vote of 43,438,378, cast by a possible voting
population of more than 45,000,000, there were 38,279,514 who answered
"Yes," 4,287,808 who answered "No" and there were 871,056 defective
ballots. Thus there is an affirmative vote of almost 90 per cent of the
valid votes and a negative vote of nearly 10 per cent exclusive of the
spoiled ballots which may or may not have been deliberately rendered
defective.
<snip>
Nazi opinion is not disposed to be altogether cheerful about the
result. When one high official was asked by this correspondent to
comment on it he said:
"Obviously we feel the effects of June 30."
He referred to the execution of Ernst Roehm and other Storm Troops
chiefs.
That is also the opinion of many other Germans, especially among the
more substantial classes. They interpret the result as the beginning of
a protest against the rule of arbitrary will and as an effort to force
Chancellor Hitler back to the rule of law.
[i.e., they consider 10% of people being willing to brave consequences
of voting no an large act of resistance, the way we would consider a
large mass demonstraion. --MP]
<snip>
Interesting also are the following results: the hospital of the Jewish
community in one district cast 168 "Yes" votes, 92 "Noes," and 46
ballots were invalid. The Jewish Home for Aged People in another
district cast 94 "Yes" votes, four "Noes" and three invalid ballots.
This vote is explainable, of course, by the fear of reprisals if the
results from these Jewish institutions had been otherwise. It is
paralleled by other results outside Berlin.
In all Bavaria Chancellor Hitler received the largest vote in his favor
in the concentration camp at Dachau where 1,554 persons voted "Yes" and
only eight "No" and there were only ten spoiled ballots.
<end excerpt>
Michael