A political machine (sometimes called just machine in politics) is a political organization in which a person or small group with authority that has enough votes or is popular enough to have control over political administration or any type of government in a city, county, or state. The term "political machine" has been used mostly since the 19th century in the United States, used to describe machines like Tamanny Hall who stayed in control mostly because of the large support from the immigrants in Manhattan during the 19th century.