1924 Georgia gubernatorial election

The 1924 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1924, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.

1924 Georgia gubernatorial election

November 4, 1924

Nominee Clifford Walker Party Democratic Popular vote 152,367 Percentage 100.00%

Governor before election Clifford Walker Democratic Elected Governor Clifford Walker Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Governor Clifford Walker was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

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 10, 1924. As Walker was unopposed, there was no run-off.

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

• Clifford Walker, incumbent Governor

Results

Democratic primary[5][6]
Candidate	Votes	%	CUV
Clifford Walker	222,395	100.00	412

General election

In the general election, Walker ran unopposed.

Results

1924 Georgia gubernatorial election[7][8][9][10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Clifford Walker	152,367	100.00%
Turnout			152,367	100.00%
	Democratic hold		Swing

References

1. "County Unit System". Georgia County Clerks Association. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
2. "Eugene Talmadge". The Jim Crow Encyclopedia. The African American Experience. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
3. "County Unit System, eh?". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
4. Buchanan, Scott (13 June 2017). "County Unit System". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
5. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 107.
6. Georgia Register 1925, p. 171.
7. "GA Governor, 1924". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
8. Glashan 1979, pp. 68-69.
9. Hunt Lyman, Robert, ed. (1925). The World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1925. New York, NY: Press Publishing Co. (The New York World). p. 822.
10. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 48.
11. Dubin 2013, p. 10.

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.
• Compiled by Ruth Blair, ed. (1925). Georgia's Official Register, 1925 (PDF). Atlanta, GA: State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History.