1926 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary runoff
October 6, 1926
 
Nominee Lamartine Griffin Hardman John N. Holder
Party Democratic Democratic
Electoral vote 276 138
Popular vote 80,868 60,197
Percentage 57.33% 42.67%
County results
Hardman:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90%
Holder:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90%
Governor before election

Clifford Walker
Democratic

 Elected Governor

Lamartine Griffin Hardman
Democratic

The 1926 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 1926, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Clifford Walker was term-limited, and ineligible to run for a third term.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed in the general election so therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered tantamount to election.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary election was held on September 8, 1926. As no candidate won a majority of county unit votes, a run-off was held between the top two candidates on October 6, 1926.

County unit system

From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections.[1]

The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.[2][3]

Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis.[2][3]

Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.[4]

Candidates

Results

Although Holder won a plurality of the popular vote in the first round, Hardman won a plurality of county unit votes. No candidate winning a majority of county unit votes in the first round, the election went to a run-off.

Democratic primary
CandidatePopular voteCounty unit vote
Votes%Votes%
Lamartine Griffin Hardman67,70835.0816840.58
John N. Holder71,97637.2916038.65
George H. Carswell32,48416.837016.91
Joe O. Wood20,85710.81163.86
Total193,025100.00414100.00
Source: [7][8][9]
Democratic primary runoff
CandidatePopular voteCounty unit vote
Votes%Votes%
Lamartine Griffin Hardman80,86857.3327666.67
John N. Holder60,19742.6713833.33
Total141,065100.00414100.00
Source: [7][10][11]

General election

In the general election, Hardman ran unopposed.

Results

1926 Georgia gubernatorial election[12][13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Lamartine Griffin Hardman 47,267[lower-alpha 1] 100.00%
Turnout 47,267 100.00%
Democratic hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ "County Unit System". Georgia County Clerks Association. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Eugene Talmadge". The Jim Crow Encyclopedia. The African American Experience. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "County Unit System, eh?". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. October 6, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  4. ↑ Buchanan, Scott (June 13, 2017). "County Unit System". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Georgia votes tomorrow". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. September 7, 1926. p. 2. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Georgia is voting today on Senator". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. September 8, 1926. p. 4. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  7. 1 2 Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 107.
  8. ↑ "GA Governor, 1926 - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  9. ↑ Georgia Register 1927, pp. 314–317.
  10. ↑ "GA Governor, 1926 - D Runoff". Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  11. ↑ Georgia Register 1927, pp. 354–357.
  12. ↑ "GA Governor, 1926". Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  13. ↑ Glashan 1979, pp. 68–69.
  14. ↑ Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 48.
  15. ↑ Dubin 2013, p. 11.

Notes

  1. ↑ Some sources indicate Hardman received 47,300 votes.[14][15]

Bibliography

  • Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998. ISBN 1-56802-396-0.
  • Glashan, Roy R. (1979). American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978. Meckler Books. ISBN 0-930466-17-9.
  • Dubin, Michael J. (2013). "Annual Summary". United States Gubernatorial Elections, 1912-1931: The Official Results by State and County. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 9781476601007.
  • Compiled by Ruth Blair, State Historian and Director (1927). Georgia's Official Register, 1927 (PDF). Atlanta, GA: State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History.
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