This article examines alleged electoral fraud in Imperial Germany (1871–1912). Analyzing over 5,000 parliamentary seats' election disputes reveals a strong link to landholding inequality.

Original Dataset: Election disputes from German parliament records

Empirical Analysis: Identifies socioeconomic factors driving electoral misconduct. The study concludes that pre-existing wealth disparities significantly hindered long-term democratization by making elections fundamentally influenced by entrenched social power structures.