Election Day in the Colonies

On page 46 of the textbook, it describes election day as a very happy, joyful day where people would gather from all over the area to vote and meet with friends. However, I think that is very unrealistic. The textbook said that people had to vote publicly. Wouldn't this mean that there would be a lot of peer pressure to vote for certain people, no matter what your real opinion is? Last year, I read that if someone didn't vote for a certain person, he would sometimes get hit with tomatos and other vegetables, or get beat up afterwords. I think that this book only shows one side of election day.