stuff the ballot box

phrase

chiefly US

: to attempt to control the outcome of an election by having multiple illegitimate votes cast in support of the desired candidate

They said the vote-rigging included stuffing ballot boxes, buying votes and absent names on the voter rolls.

—Sonia Verma

By a margin of just 277 votes (some say ballot boxes were stuffed), Brooklyn, the nation's fourth-largest city, had voted to give up its proud and independent history.

—James Sterngold