1940 United States presidential election in Georgia

The 1940 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the wider United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1940 United States presidential election in Georgia

← 1936 November 5, 1940 (1940-11-05) 1944 →
 
Nominee Franklin Roosevelt Wendell Willkie
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York New York
Running mate Henry A. Wallace Charles L. McNary
Electoral vote 12 0
Popular vote 265,194 46,360
Percentage 84.85% 14.83%

County Results

President before election

Franklin Roosevelt
Democratic

Elected President

Franklin Roosevelt
Democratic

With the exception of a handful of historically Unionist North Georgia counties – chiefly Fannin but also to a lesser extent Pickens, Gilmer and Towns – Georgia since the 1880s had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. Disfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and most poor whites had made the Republican Party virtually nonexistent outside of local governments in those few hill counties,[1] and the national Democratic Party served as the guardian of white supremacy against a Republican Party historically associated with memories of Reconstruction. The only competitive elections were Democratic primaries, which state laws restricted to whites on the grounds of the Democratic Party being legally a private club.[2]

Secretary of State John B. Wilson refused to allow Earl Browder, the nominee of the Communist Party USA, to appear on the ballot stating that the party was in violation of a Georgian law which prohibited "candidates of a party which seeks to overthrow our democratic constitutional form of government" from appearing on the ballot. The Georgia General Assembly later passed restrictive ballot access legislation in 1943, which required petitions to have signatures from at least five percent of registered voters. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution stated that the legislation was passed in order to "sustain Secretary of State John B. Wilson in refusing a Communist candidate for president a place on the Georgia ballot in the 1940 election".[3][4] Georgia would later lower its voting age from twenty-one to eighteen in 1943.[5]

Results

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1940 United States presidential election in Georgia[6]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Franklin Roosevelt (incumbent) 265,194 84.85% 12
Republican Wendell Willkie 46,360[a] 14.83% 0
Prohibition Roger Babson 983 0.31% 0
Independent 14 0.00% 0

Results by county

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County Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Wendell Lewis Willkie
Republican/Independent Democratic
Roger Ward Babson
Prohibition
Write-ins
Independent
Margin Total votes cast[7]
# % # % # % # % # %
Appling 1,514 82.19% 312 16.94% 16 0.87% 0 0.00% 1,202 65.26% 1,842
Atkinson 703 91.30% 66 8.57% 1 0.13% 0 0.00% 637 82.73% 770
Bacon 821 88.95% 97 10.51% 5 0.54% 0 0.00% 724 78.44% 923
Baker 557 94.73% 30 5.10% 1 0.17% 0 0.00% 527 89.63% 588
Baldwin 1,313 86.38% 203 13.36% 4 0.26% 0 0.00% 1,110 73.03% 1,520
Banks 668 79.71% 164 19.57% 6 0.72% 0 0.00% 504 60.14% 838
Barrow 1,615 87.82% 219 11.91% 5 0.27% 0 0.00% 1,396 75.91% 1,839
Bartow 1,734 84.17% 318 15.44% 8 0.39% 0 0.00% 1,416 68.74% 2,060
Ben Hill 1,206 86.64% 181 13.00% 4 0.29% 1 0.07% 1,025 73.64% 1,392
Berrien 1,156 97.97% 23 1.95% 1 0.08% 0 0.00% 1,133 96.02% 1,180
Bibb 6,729 82.70% 1,371 16.85% 37 0.45% 0 0.00% 5,358 65.85% 8,137
Bleckley 785 88.40% 100 11.26% 3 0.34% 0 0.00% 685 77.14% 888
Brantley 960 93.20% 67 6.50% 3 0.29% 0 0.00% 893 86.70% 1,030
Brooks 1,300 83.93% 248 16.01% 1 0.06% 0 0.00% 1,052 67.91% 1,549
Bryan 874 94.49% 49 5.30% 2 0.22% 0 0.00% 825 89.19% 925
Bulloch 2,063 93.35% 141 6.38% 6 0.27% 0 0.00% 1,922 86.97% 2,210
Burke 1,029 95.54% 42 3.90% 6 0.56% 0 0.00% 987 91.64% 1,077
Butts 1,012 91.92% 87 7.90% 2 0.18% 0 0.00% 925 84.01% 1,101
Calhoun 610 94.87% 33 5.13% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 577 89.74% 643
Camden 564 90.24% 60 9.60% 1 0.16% 0 0.00% 504 80.64% 625
Candler 748 92.00% 63 7.75% 2 0.25% 0 0.00% 685 84.26% 813
Carroll 3,808 85.92% 616 13.90% 8 0.18% 0 0.00% 3,192 72.02% 4,432
Catoosa 1,440 85.26% 249 14.74% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,191 70.52% 1,689
Charlton 562 90.35% 60 9.65% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 502 80.71% 622
Chatham 10,048 83.37% 1,985 16.47% 19 0.16% 0 0.00% 8,063 66.90% 12,052
Chattahoochee 204 91.07% 20 8.93% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 184 82.14% 224
Chattooga 2,413 89.47% 273 10.12% 11 0.41% 0 0.00% 2,140 79.35% 2,697
Cherokee 1,552 60.11% 1,017 39.39% 13 0.50% 0 0.00% 535 20.72% 2,582
Clarke 2,894 91.87% 246 7.81% 10 0.32% 0 0.00% 2,648 84.06% 3,150
Clay 488 93.31% 33 6.31% 2 0.38% 0 0.00% 455 87.00% 523
Clayton 1,382 89.45% 161 10.42% 2 0.13% 0 0.00% 1,221 79.03% 1,545
Clinch 1,049 94.33% 63 5.67% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 986 88.67% 1,112
Cobb 4,447 81.63% 992 18.21% 9 0.17% 0 0.00% 3,455 63.42% 5,448
Coffee 1,561 92.15% 128 7.56% 5 0.30% 0 0.00% 1,433 84.59% 1,694
Colquitt 1,819 77.04% 525 22.24% 17 0.72% 0 0.00% 1,294 54.81% 2,361
Columbia 627 92.61% 46 6.79% 4 0.59% 0 0.00% 581 85.82% 677
Cook 941 86.81% 143 13.19% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 798 73.62% 1,084
Coweta 2,846 96.25% 103 3.48% 8 0.27% 0 0.00% 2,743 92.76% 2,957
Crawford 362 82.84% 74 16.93% 1 0.23% 0 0.00% 288 65.90% 437
Crisp 1,049 88.75% 129 10.91% 4 0.34% 0 0.00% 920 77.83% 1,182
Dade 982 86.67% 151 13.33% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 831 73.35% 1,133
Dawson 484 63.43% 276 36.17% 3 0.39% 0 0.00% 208 27.26% 763
Decatur 1,781 89.05% 217 10.85% 2 0.10% 0 0.00% 1,564 78.20% 2,000
DeKalb 8,862 80.65% 2,081 18.94% 45 0.41% 0 0.00% 6,781 61.71% 10,988
Dodge 1,280 87.91% 171 11.74% 5 0.34% 0 0.00% 1,109 76.17% 1,456
Dooly 1,209 90.43% 124 9.27% 4 0.30% 0 0.00% 1,085 81.15% 1,337
Dougherty 2,175 92.32% 180 7.64% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 1,995 84.68% 2,356
Douglas 833 80.64% 195 18.88% 5 0.48% 0 0.00% 638 61.76% 1,033
Early 1,751 94.29% 104 5.60% 2 0.11% 0 0.00% 1,647 88.69% 1,857
Echols 441 95.87% 18 3.91% 1 0.22% 0 0.00% 423 91.96% 460
Effingham 633 73.60% 227 26.40% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 406 47.21% 860
Elbert 2,052 84.48% 357 14.70% 20 0.82% 0 0.00% 1,695 69.78% 2,429
Emanuel 1,428 94.51% 81 5.36% 2 0.13% 0 0.00% 1,347 89.15% 1,511
Evans 1,399 92.04% 112 7.37% 9 0.59% 0 0.00% 1,287 84.67% 1,520
Fannin 1,771 43.98% 2,256 56.02% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -485 -12.04% 4,027
Fayette 577 92.91% 44 7.09% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 533 85.83% 621
Floyd 5,528 85.56% 912 14.12% 21 0.33% 0 0.00% 4,616 71.44% 6,461
Forsyth 1,378 68.49% 634 31.51% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 744 36.98% 2,012
Franklin 1,579 86.66% 222 12.18% 21 1.15% 0 0.00% 1,357 74.48% 1,822
Fulton 31,311 83.57% 6,033 16.10% 122 0.33% 0 0.00% 25,278 67.47% 37,466
Gilmer 856 56.61% 653 43.19% 3 0.20% 0 0.00% 203 13.43% 1,512
Glascock 332 80.98% 76 18.54% 2 0.49% 0 0.00% 256 62.44% 410
Glynn 2,014 87.76% 274 11.94% 7 0.31% 0 0.00% 1,740 75.82% 2,295
Gordon 1,623 75.17% 527 24.41% 9 0.42% 0 0.00% 1,096 50.76% 2,159
Grady 1,461 86.09% 224 13.20% 12 0.71% 0 0.00% 1,237 72.89% 1,697
Greene 1,497 90.29% 148 8.93% 13 0.78% 0 0.00% 1,349 81.36% 1,658
Gwinnett 4,023 84.32% 728 15.26% 20 0.42% 0 0.00% 3,295 69.06% 4,771
Habersham 1,840 81.06% 421 18.55% 9 0.40% 0 0.00% 1,419 62.51% 2,270
Hall 2,943 85.13% 513 14.84% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 2,430 70.29% 3,457
Hancock 501 76.49% 153 23.36% 1 0.15% 0 0.00% 348 53.13% 655
Haralson 1,397 75.19% 457 24.60% 4 0.22% 0 0.00% 940 50.59% 1,858
Harris 914 92.04% 71 7.15% 8 0.81% 0 0.00% 843 84.89% 993
Hart 1,328 92.16% 97 6.73% 16 1.11% 0 0.00% 1,231 85.43% 1,441
Heard 647 74.37% 221 25.40% 2 0.23% 0 0.00% 426 48.97% 870
Henry 1,551 93.77% 101 6.11% 2 0.12% 0 0.00% 1,450 87.67% 1,654
Houston 622 80.57% 149 19.30% 1 0.13% 0 0.00% 473 61.27% 772
Irwin 962 82.79% 197 16.95% 3 0.26% 0 0.00% 765 65.83% 1,162
Jackson 1,599 90.29% 166 9.37% 6 0.34% 0 0.00% 1,433 80.91% 1,771
Jasper 689 90.30% 72 9.44% 2 0.26% 0 0.00% 617 80.87% 763
Jeff Davis 696 87.11% 101 12.64% 2 0.25% 0 0.00% 595 74.47% 799
Jefferson 1,068 86.13% 171 13.79% 1 0.08% 0 0.00% 897 72.34% 1,240
Jenkins 940 92.98% 69 6.82% 2 0.20% 0 0.00% 871 86.15% 1,011
Johnson 2,386 88.24% 306 11.32% 12 0.44% 0 0.00% 2,080 76.92% 2,704
Jones 613 85.73% 101 14.13% 1 0.14% 0 0.00% 512 71.61% 715
Lamar 869 90.62% 85 8.86% 5 0.52% 0 0.00% 784 81.75% 959
Lanier 607 97.12% 16 2.56% 2 0.32% 0 0.00% 591 94.56% 625
Laurens 2,316 84.07% 435 15.79% 4 0.15% 0 0.00% 1,881 68.28% 2,755
Lee 416 95.63% 17 3.91% 2 0.46% 0 0.00% 399 91.72% 435
Liberty 407 79.80% 102 20.00% 1 0.20% 0 0.00% 305 59.80% 510
Lincoln 466 86.62% 67 12.45% 3 0.56% 2 0.37% 399 74.16% 538
Long 319 80.35% 76 19.14% 2 0.50% 0 0.00% 243 61.21% 397
Lowndes 2,551 90.40% 260 9.21% 11 0.39% 0 0.00% 2,291 81.18% 2,822
Lumpkin 889 84.11% 165 15.61% 3 0.28% 0 0.00% 724 68.50% 1,057
Macon 852 91.81% 72 7.76% 4 0.43% 0 0.00% 780 84.05% 928
Madison 1,160 85.36% 185 13.61% 14 1.03% 0 0.00% 975 71.74% 1,359
Marion 605 88.58% 77 11.27% 1 0.15% 0 0.00% 528 77.31% 683
McDuffie 959 92.12% 75 7.20% 7 0.67% 0 0.00% 884 84.92% 1,041
McIntosh 468 81.53% 106 18.47% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 362 63.07% 574
Meriwether 2,726 93.74% 174 5.98% 8 0.28% 0 0.00% 2,552 87.76% 2,908
Miller 775 93.94% 50 6.06% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 725 87.88% 825
Mitchell 2,131 93.22% 155 6.78% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,976 86.44% 2,286
Monroe 1,016 94.86% 49 4.58% 6 0.56% 0 0.00% 967 90.29% 1,071
Montgomery 686 89.44% 75 9.78% 6 0.78% 0 0.00% 611 79.66% 767
Morgan 484 95.28% 24 4.72% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 460 90.55% 508
Murray 1,399 71.89% 545 28.01% 2 0.10% 0 0.00% 854 43.88% 1,946
Muscogee 5,392 88.38% 702 11.51% 7 0.11% 0 0.00% 4,690 76.87% 6,101
Newton 1,512 93.85% 95 5.90% 4 0.25% 0 0.00% 1,417 87.96% 1,611
Oconee 635 77.72% 177 21.66% 5 0.61% 0 0.00% 458 56.06% 817
Oglethorpe 818 86.11% 131 13.79% 1 0.11% 0 0.00% 687 72.32% 950
Paulding 1,653 67.89% 770 31.62% 12 0.49% 0 0.00% 883 36.26% 2,435
Peach 738 82.09% 155 17.24% 6 0.67% 0 0.00% 583 64.85% 899
Pickens 1,124 55.64% 884 43.76% 12 0.59% 0 0.00% 240 11.88% 2,020
Pierce 943 91.55% 84 8.16% 3 0.29% 0 0.00% 859 83.40% 1,030
Pike 829 79.87% 209 20.13% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 620 59.73% 1,038
Polk 2,693 86.76% 401 12.92% 10 0.32% 0 0.00% 2,292 73.84% 3,104
Pulaski 478 91.92% 38 7.31% 4 0.77% 0 0.00% 440 84.62% 520
Putnam 730 92.17% 61 7.70% 1 0.13% 0 0.00% 669 84.47% 792
Quitman 324 94.46% 19 5.54% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 305 88.92% 343
Rabun 958 91.85% 82 7.86% 3 0.29% 0 0.00% 876 83.99% 1,043
Randolph 1,298 89.95% 143 9.91% 2 0.14% 0 0.00% 1,155 80.04% 1,443
Richmond 5,855 89.97% 641 9.85% 8 0.12% 4 0.06% 5,214 80.12% 6,508
Rockdale 1,291 93.55% 86 6.23% 3 0.22% 0 0.00% 1,205 87.32% 1,380
Schley 471 86.90% 69 12.73% 2 0.37% 0 0.00% 402 74.17% 542
Screven 1,174 91.79% 100 7.82% 5 0.39% 0 0.00% 1,074 83.97% 1,279
Seminole 884 93.45% 58 6.13% 3 0.32% 1 0.11% 826 87.32% 946
Spalding 3,022 93.76% 197 6.11% 4 0.12% 0 0.00% 2,825 87.65% 3,223
Stephens 1,084 91.71% 90 7.61% 6 0.51% 2 0.17% 994 84.09% 1,182
Stewart 600 92.02% 52 7.98% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 548 84.05% 652
Sumter 1,561 92.26% 118 6.97% 13 0.77% 0 0.00% 1,443 85.28% 1,692
Talbot 656 92.92% 49 6.94% 1 0.14% 0 0.00% 607 85.98% 706
Taliaferro 507 96.39% 19 3.61% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 488 92.78% 526
Tattnall 1,246 74.43% 421 25.15% 7 0.42% 0 0.00% 825 49.28% 1,674
Taylor 796 78.73% 213 21.07% 2 0.20% 0 0.00% 583 57.67% 1,011
Telfair 1,391 92.24% 104 6.90% 13 0.86% 0 0.00% 1,287 85.34% 1,508
Terrell 1,040 100.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,040 100.00% 1,040
Thomas 2,072 84.64% 371 15.16% 5 0.20% 0 0.00% 1,701 69.49% 2,448
Tift 1,463 85.51% 226 13.21% 22 1.29% 0 0.00% 1,237 72.30% 1,711
Toombs 1,061 88.79% 134 11.21% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 927 77.57% 1,195
Towns 894 51.86% 830 48.14% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 64 3.71% 1,724
Treutlen 1,184 96.89% 38 3.11% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,146 93.78% 1,222
Troup 3,176 91.34% 288 8.28% 13 0.37% 0 0.00% 2,888 83.06% 3,477
Turner 791 68.96% 351 30.60% 5 0.44% 0 0.00% 440 38.36% 1,147
Twiggs 723 88.82% 91 11.18% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 632 77.64% 814
Union 950 62.96% 557 36.91% 2 0.13% 0 0.00% 393 26.04% 1,509
Upson 2,235 93.36% 159 6.64% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,076 86.72% 2,394
Walker 2,859 83.50% 558 16.30% 7 0.20% 0 0.00% 2,301 67.20% 3,424
Walton 2,179 95.24% 104 4.55% 5 0.22% 0 0.00% 2,075 90.69% 2,288
Ware 2,672 89.48% 308 10.31% 6 0.20% 0 0.00% 2,364 79.17% 2,986
Warren 606 86.20% 95 13.51% 2 0.28% 0 0.00% 511 72.69% 703
Washington 1,112 80.93% 253 18.41% 9 0.66% 0 0.00% 859 62.52% 1,374
Wayne 1,542 89.39% 179 10.38% 4 0.23% 0 0.00% 1,363 79.01% 1,725
Webster 280 84.85% 50 15.15% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 230 69.70% 330
Wheeler 495 80.49% 117 19.02% 3 0.49% 0 0.00% 378 61.46% 615
White 754 87.17% 111 12.83% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 643 74.34% 865
Whitfield 3,162 76.03% 991 23.83% 6 0.14% 0 0.00% 2,171 52.20% 4,159
Wilcox 890 87.51% 118 11.60% 9 0.88% 0 0.00% 772 75.91% 1,017
Wilkes 1,022 88.72% 123 10.68% 7 0.61% 0 0.00% 899 78.04% 1,152
Wilkinson 906 85.96% 147 13.95% 1 0.09% 0 0.00% 759 72.01% 1,054
Worth 936 82.91% 190 16.83% 3 0.27% 0 0.00% 746 66.08% 1,129
Totals 265,194 84.81% 46,495 14.87% 983 0.31% 14 0.00% 218,699 69.94% 312,686

Notes

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  1. ^ Willkie vote is a fusion of 23,932 Republican and 22,428 Independent Democratic votes.

References

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  1. ^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
  2. ^ Springer, Melanie Jean; How the States Shaped the Nation: American Electoral Institutions and Voter Turnout, 1920-2000, p. 155 ISBN 022611435X
  3. ^ "Martin Cowen v. Brian P. Kemp" (PDF). April 20, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 17, 2022.
  4. ^ "Darcy Richardson Submits Evidence in Georgia Ballot Access Case About Why the 5% Petition was Created in 1943". Ballot Access News. April 20, 2018. Archived from the original on January 17, 2022.
  5. ^ Wayne, Stephen (2008). Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process Fifth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield.
  6. ^ Georgia's Official Register, 1939-1941-1943 (PDF). Atlanta, Georgia. pp. 550–552.
  7. ^ "GA US President Race, November 05, 1940". Our Campaigns. Archived from the original on January 17, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2020.