1940 Georgia gubernatorial election

The 1940 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1940, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.

1940 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary
September 11, 1940
 
Nominee Eugene Talmadge Columbus Roberts Hosea Abit Nix
Party Democratic Democratic Democratic
Popular vote 183,133 127,653 44,282
Percentage 51.58% 35.95% 12.47%
Governor before election

Eurith D. Rivers
Democratic

 Elected Governor

Eugene Talmadge
Democratic

Elections in Georgia

Incumbent Democrat Governor Eurith D. Rivers was term-limited, and ineligible to run for a third term.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran with only token opposition 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 11, 1940. As Talmadge won a majority of county unit votes, 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
  • Hosea Abit Nix, attorney[5] and unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for Governor in 1932
  • Columbus Roberts, businessman[5]
  • Eugene Talmadge, former Governor

Results
Democratic primary[6][7][8]
Candidate Votes % CUV
Eugene Talmadge 183,133 51.58 318
Columbus Roberts 127,653 35.95 80
Hosea Abit Nix 44,282 12.47 12

General election

In the general election, Talmadge faced token opposition.

Results
1940 Georgia gubernatorial election[9][10][11][12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Eugene Talmadge 267,574 91.94%
Ind. Democratic Eugene Talmadge 22,303 7.66%
Total Eugene Talmadge 289,877 99.60%
Prohibition J. L. R. Boyd 875 0.30%
Independent Joseph M. Wallace 296 0.10%
Turnout 291,048 100.00%
Democratic hold Swing
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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. "Talmadge of Georgia Wins Governorship For Third Time". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 12 September 1940. p. B-6. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  6. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 107.
  7. "GA Governor, 1940 - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  8. Georgia Register 1943, pp. 498-501.
  9. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 48.
  10. "GA Governor, 1940". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  11. Glashan 1979, pp. 68-69.
  12. Georgia Register 1943, pp. 554-559.

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.
  • Compiled by Mrs. J.E. Hays, State Historian and Director (1943). Georgia's Official Register, 1939-1941-1943 (PDF). Atlanta, GA: State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History.
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