The one supporter said of the signatures on Palmer’s petition: “They’re terrible. Worst I’ve ever seen. All those Negroes who 
were trying to bully you out of the race, they didn’t bother actually doing the work. This could get her knocked off the ballot.” Writes Obama: “It was true; the petitions Alice had submitted appeared to be filled with invalid signatures: people whose addresses were outside the district, multiple signatures with different names but the same handwriting.”
After months of hearing there is no evidence of voter fraud anywhere, young readers have to be shocked to learn just how casually Democratic politicians resorted to fraud (and still do) in cities like Chicago. When Obama wavered about challenging Palmer’s signatures, a fellow supporter upbraided him. “If you let this go, you might as well go back to being a professor and whatnot, ’cause politics is not for you,” she told him. “You will get chewed up and won’t be doing anybody a damn bit of good.”
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