1948 Georgia gubernatorial special election

none related races 1948 United States gubernatorial elections January 2025 September 2023 1948 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary Georgia (U.S. state) 1920 Presidential no 1946 Georgia gubernatorial election 1946 1950 Georgia gubernatorial election 1950 September 8, 1948 HermanTalmadge.jpg Herman Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) 312 357,865 51.77% Lt. Gov. M.E. Thompson Edit.jpg Melvin E. Thompson Democratic Party (United States) 98 312,035 45.14% File:1948 Georgia gubernatorial Democratic primary election results map by county.svg 250px County resultsTalmadge: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90%Thompson: #e9ddaf 40–50% #d3bc5f 50–60% #c8ab37 60–70% #a0892c 70–80% Governor Melvin E. Thompson Democratic Party (United States) Herman Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) 410 county unit votes 206 unit The 1948 Georgia gubernatorial special election took place on November 2, 1948, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia. The Supreme Court of Georgia resolved the three governors controversy in the wake of the 1946 election by affirming lieutenant governor-elect Melvin E. Thompson's succession to the office of governor.Thompson v. Talmadge 41 S.E.2d 883 Ga. 1947 https://casetext.com/case/thompson-v-talmadge https://web.archive.org/web/20220105160834/https://casetext.com/case/thompson-v-talmadge dead January 5, 2022 The state constitution in effect at the time then required a special election to be held simultaneously with the next state legislative election to fill the remainder of the term.1945 Constitution of Georgia http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ggpd/docs/1945/ga/c600/_ps1/p7/1945.con/1.pdf 32 Herman Talmadge, the son of the winner of the 1946 election, the late Eugene Talmadge,http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-590 Herman Talmadge (1913-2002) New Georgia Encyclopedia 2013-01-13 2005-12-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20051217200845/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-590 dead defeated Governor Thompson in the Democratic primary by a margin of 51.8% to 45.1% with three other candidates getting 3.1% of the votehttp://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-701 Melvin E. Thompson (1903-1980) New Georgia Encyclopedia 2013-01-13 2012-09-16 https://web.archive.org/web/20120916094747/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-701 deadhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=379682 GA Governor, 1948 - Special D Primary Our Campaigns 14 November 2020 and then proceeded to win the general election with 97.51% of the vote. 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 8, 1948. 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.http://www.georgiacca.com/unit.cfm County Unit System Georgia County Clerks Association 14 November 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20080531162547/http://www.georgiacca.com/unit.cfm 31 May 2008 dead 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.http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR4181&chapterID=GR4181-6373&path=encyclopedias/greenwood Eugene Talmadge The Jim Crow Encyclopedia The African American Experience 12 August 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20150123030046/http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR4181&chapterID=GR4181-6373&path=encyclopedias%2Fgreenwood 23 January 2015 dead http://rbrl.blogspot.com/2011/10/county-unit-system-eh.html County Unit System, eh? 6 October 2011 Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies 14 November 2020 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. 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.http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/county-unit-system County Unit System Buchanan Scott 13 June 2017 New Georgia Encyclopedia 14 November 2020 Candidates Hoke O'Kelley, businessmanhttp://emoryhistory.emory.edu/facts-figures/places/names/oxford/okelley-library.html Hoke O'Kelley Memorial Library Emory University: History and Traditions 14 November 2020 Joseph A. Rabun, pastorRev. William C. Kernan 24 January 1947 The Common Defense https://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=ithacan_1946-47 The Ithacan XVIII 14 Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 2 14 November 2020 Herman Talmadge, former Governor, removed from office during the three governors controversy Melvin E. Thompson, incumbent Governor Hoke Willis, railroad clerk Qualifications Of Candidates Listed https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/30832/1948-08-27_32_02.pdf The Technique Atlanta, Georgia 27 August 1948 2 14 November 2020 Results Popular vote County unit vote Herman Talmadge 357865 312 Melvin E. Thompson 312035 98 Hoke O'Kelley 13226 Hoke Willis 4963 Joseph A. Rabun 3150 Congressional Quarterly 1998 107Georgia Register 1950 574-577 General election In the general election, Talmadge faced token opposition. Results Barfoot was a candidate of the Progressive Party. Fire damages Barfoot home, 2 buildings https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39919333/19480925-article-fire-destroys-part-of/ The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta, Georgia 25 September 1948 1 14 November 2020 1948 Georgia gubernatorial special electionCongressional Quarterly 1998 48https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=261917 GA Governor, 1948 - Special Election Our Campaigns 14 November 2020Glashan 1979 68-69Georgia Register 1950 614-617America Votes 5 82 Democratic Party (United States) Herman Talmadge 354,711 97.51% Write-in Morgan Blake 8,017 2.20% Write-in James L. Barfoot 665 0.18% Write-in Melvin E. Thompson 324 0.09% Write-in Ralph McGill 22 0.01% Write-in All others 24 0.01% 363,763 100.00% Democratic Party (United States) References Bibliography Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997 Washington, D.C. Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998 1-56802-396-0 Congressional Quarterly 1998 Glashan Roy R. American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978 Meckler Books 1979 0-930466-17-9 Compiled by Mrs. J.E. Hays, State Historian and Director 1950 Georgia's Official Register, 1945-1950 http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/statreg-images/pdfs/1945.pdf Atlanta, GA State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History Georgia Register 1950 Scammon Richard M. America Votes 5: a handbook of contemporary American election statistics, 1962 Pittsburgh, PA Governmental Affairs Institute 1964 https://archive.org/details/americavotes5han00scam America Votes 5 1948 Georgia Gubernatorial Georgia 1948 Gubernatorial, 1948 Category:Single-candidate gubernatorial elections in Georgia Georgia gubernatorial special election Georgia gubernatorial special election