In lieu of a suitable source proving that Stalin uttered the quip, a number of similar quotes attributed to sources other than the Soviet dictator were offered up as possible progenitors:

“‘I care not who casts the votes of a nation, provided I can count them,’ Napoleon failed to remark.” — New York Times editorial (26 May 1880).

“There’s more to an election than mere votin’, my boy, for as an eminent American once said: ‘I care not who casts the votes of a nation if they’ll let me make the count.‘” — from Uncle Henry, a novel by George Creel, 1922.

“It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting, Archie says.” — from Jumpers, a play by Tom Stoppard, 1972.

“Indeed, you won the elections, but I won the count.” — Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza (1896-1956), Guardian (London), 17 June 1977.

These other renderings proved, if nothing else, that the thought wasn’t necessarily original to Joseph Stalin, whether a variant uttered by him could be traced to a published source or not.