The 1868 election was not close. Grant won a decisive election against Horatio Seymour, who, was a New York native and former mayor of NYC. The Democrats were naturalizing immigrants quickly, like in a voter mill to pump up the rolls for their party. The election in NY was close—it should not have been. Grant won his home state by 50,000 (some thought 60-70,000 but that was inaccurate). NYT published a notice that fraud was evident, and outstripped some rolls. Seymour won the state by 9,000 votes.
