The village residents of Oxfordshire take center stage in the second scene of "An Election." 

The innkeeper on the left is counting her windfall from hosting election festivities. The landlords of the Royal Oak and the Crown inns are bribing a party official to host the next ‘treat’ for voters. There is a mob fighting at the Crown and while a chappie is sawing off the inn’s sign, and a guy in a red coat is shooting into the crowd from the second floor.

An Election II: Canvassing for Votes by William Hogarth demonstrates the turbulent process of an election.

William Hogarth is known for his satirical depictions of people, politics, and morals. Canvassing for Votes is the second part of the artist’s series about the notoriously corrupt 1754 Oxfordshire county election.

The work depicts two inns that represent the two parties people could vote for: the Whigs and the Tories. The inn in the back of the picture stands for the Whigs, and the inn in the front for the Tories. Beneath the inn of the Whigs is an angry mob complaining about the party’s taxation policy. A man in the building retaliates by shooting at them.

Next to the inn of the Tories is their political candidate who is obviously so smitten with the women on the balcony that he forgets all about politics and buys them presents instead. The trinkets he purchased were usually used to make the recipients tell their family members to give their vote to the party, but in this instance, the candidate probably had something else in mind.

The sign hanging in front of the inn advertises a Punch and Judy show. These shows served as an opportunity to insult, criticize, and ridicule the political opponent. The advertisement illustrates the other party’s use of bribery by depicting how gold coins were coming from the Treasury building on Whitehall in London, helping the Whigs win the election. Below that depiction is another illustration of bribery. The unflattering portrayal of the Whigs’ candidate presents him as someone who is handing out gold coins to secure peoples’ votes. Under the depiction, it says “Punch Candidate for Guzzledown,"  Guzzledown being  the fictional town in which the scene is set.

The man in the middle of the image is a farmer who is offered a bribe by representatives of both parties. Instead of choosing one, the man with no moral compass whatsoever accepts both bribes. What do we learn from this? Two bribes are better than one! Or maybe just make an informed decision when you vote.