grammar - When using "Used To" in a sentence with two clauses, do you change the verb tense in the second clause?

I was helping a friend proofread one of her essays on the short story The Lottery. She had written this sentence:

I think the lottery used to have a specific reason and represent something in the society.

I changed the sentence to

I think the lottery used to have a specific reason and represented something in the society.

I thought that, because 'used to' was not directly preceding 'represent', it should be changed to past tense. But after thinking on it for a while, I am just not sure. I can't seem to find a definitive answer and the question left all of my friends conflicted.

Answer

The sentences come from different base forms (leaving off decorations like "I think", etc):

• It used to [[have a specific reason] and [(it used to) represent something in the society]].

and

• It [used to [have a specific reason]] and [(it) [represented something in the society]].

The words in parentheses get deleted by conjunction reduction. Either sentence will work.

The only meaning difference between them is that the first one presupposes that it no longer represents anything in the society (because used to asserts a past affirmative and presupposes a present negative), while the second one simply asserts the past affirmative and leaves it at that.
This is rather like the difference between although and even if.