1954 Georgia gubernatorial election
The 1954 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1954.
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410 county unit votes 206 unit votes needed to win | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Griffin: 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Thompson: 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Linder: 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60–70% Hand: 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 80-90% Gowen: 80-90% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lieutenant Governor Marvin Griffin won the Democratic primary on September 8 with 36.52% of the vote and 302 out of 410 county unit votes. At this time, Georgia was a one-party state, and the Democratic nomination was tantamount to victory. Griffin won the November general election without an opponent.
This was the final of Melvin Thompson's three failed bids for Governor.
Democratic primary
editCounty unit system
editFrom 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
edit- Marvin Griffin, incumbent Lieutenant Governor
- Charlie Gowen, State Representative from Brunswick
- Frederick Barrow Hand, Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives
- Tom Linder, Commissioner of Agriculture
- Melvin Thompson, former Governor (1947–48)
Results
edit| Candidate | Popular vote | County unit vote | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Marvin Griffin | 234,690 | 36.32 | 302 | 73.66 |
| Melvin Thompson | 162,007 | 25.07 | 56 | 13.66 |
| Tom Linder | 87,240 | 13.50 | 26 | 6.34 |
| Frederick Barrow Hand | 78,125 | 12.09 | 22 | 5.37 |
| Charlie Gowen | 73,809 | 11.42 | 4 | 0.98 |
| Grace Wilkey Thomas | 6,285 | 0.97 | ||
| Ben Garland | 2,847 | 0.44 | ||
| Edmond Barfield | 747 | 0.12 | ||
| Arthur H. Neeson | 485 | 0.08 | ||
| Total | 646,235 | 100.00 | 410 | 100.00 |
| Source: [5] | ||||
General election
editResults
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marvin Griffin | 331,899 | 99.98% | ||
| N/A | write-ins | 67 | 0.02% | ||
| Majority | 331,832 | 99.96 | |||
| Turnout | 331,966 | ||||
| Democratic hold | Swing | ||||
References
edit- ^ "County Unit System". Georgia County Clerks Association. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
- ^ a b "Eugene Talmadge". The Jim Crow Encyclopedia. The African American Experience. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
- ^ a b "County Unit System, eh?". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. October 6, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
- ^ Buchanan, Scott (June 13, 2017). "County Unit System". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
- ^ "Our Campaigns - GA Governor - D Primary Race - Sep 08, 1954".
- ^ "Our Campaigns - GA Governor Race - Nov 02, 1954".