1946 Georgia gubernatorial election

none related races 1946 United States gubernatorial elections January 2025 September 2023 1946 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary Georgia (U.S. state) 1920 Presidential no 1942 Georgia gubernatorial election 1942 1948 Georgia gubernatorial special election 1948 (special) July 17, 1946 Eugene Talmadge circa 1935.jpg Eugene Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) 244 297,245 42.96% James V. Carmichael.jpg James V. Carmichael Democratic Party (United States) 144 313,389 45.30% Discusses Georgia's problems with President. Washington, D.C., Dec. 22. Governor-elect E.D. Rivers was at the White House today where he discussed Georgia's problems with President Roosevelt LCCN2016871021 Crop.jpg Eurith D. Rivers Democratic Party (United States) 22 69,489 10.04% File:1946 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%Carmichael: #f1e9c5 30–40% #e9ddaf 40–50% #d3bc5f 50–60% #c8ab37 60–70% #a0892c 70–80% Rivers: #ffe9ff 30–40% #ffd4ff 40–50% #ffbce3 50–60% #ffabff 60–70% #ff67ff 80–90% #d63cff >90% Governor Ellis Arnall Democratic Party (United States) Melvin E. ThompsonEugene Talmadge was elected to a third term in 1946, but died before taking office. Ellis Arnall, governor at the time, claimed the office, as did Lieutenant Governor Melvin Thompson. The state legislature chose Eugene Talmadge's son, Herman Talmadge, to be governor, but during what came to be called the "three governors controversy", the state supreme court declared this unconstitutional and declared Thompson rightful governor, and Talmadge stepped down after 67 days. Talmadge later defeated Thompson in a special election.https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/three-governors-controversy Three Governors Controversy New Georgia Encyclopedia June 21, 2019 Democratic Party (United States) 410 county unit votes 206 unit The 1946 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1946, in order to elect the governor of Georgia. Incumbent Democratic governor Ellis Arnall was term-limited, and ineligible to run for a second term before spending four years out of office (thus in 1950).1945 Georgia constitution, Article V, Section I, Paragraph I https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/adhoc/id/9223 Georgia State Archive The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office during the term of four years, and until his successor shall be chosen and qualified. The governor serving at the time of the adoption of this Constitution and future Governors shall not be eligible to succeed themselves and shall not be eligible to hold the office until after the expiration of four years from the conclusion of his term in office. 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. The Republican Party was utterly unviable in Georgia at the time, and had not even nominated a candidate of its own.Belvin William L. 1966 The Georgia Gubernatorial Primary of 1946 The Georgia Historical Quarterly 50 1 37–53 0016-8297 40578545 https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/three-governors-controversy Three Governors Controversy Buchanan Scott 2002-08-12 New Georgia Encyclopedia 2019-06-23 The election was won by the Democratic nominee and former governor Eugene Talmadge, who died weeks later in mid-December, before his scheduled inauguration in January 1947. Talmadge's death created the three governors controversy in Georgia.Our Georgia History Democratic primary The Democratic primary election was held on July 17, 1946. 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 8 June 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 8 June 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. Candidates James V. Carmichael, businessman and former state representative Klan Primary Issue in Georgia's Torrid Gubernatorial Race https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1946-05-31/ed-1/seq-35/#date1=1946&index=2&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Carmichael+Rivers+Talmadge&proxdistance=5&date2=1946&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=rivers+talmadge+carmichael&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Evening Star 31 May 1946 B-16 17 June 2020 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 13 June 2020 Eurith D. Rivers, former governor Eugene Talmadge, former governor Results Popular vote County unit vote Eugene Talmadge 297245 244 James V. Carmichael 313389 144 Eurith D. Rivers 69489 22 Hoke O'Kelley 11758 Congressional Quarterly 1998 107https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=377207 GA Governor, 1946 - D Primary Our Campaigns 17 June 2020Georgia Register 1950 490-493 General election In the general election, Talmadge faced token opposition. However, from October 3, Talmadge began to suffer from stomach hemorrhages and was unable to attend the state convention in October in Macon. Talmadge death may give Arnall another term https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1946-12-22/ed-1/seq-1/ Evening Star Washington, D.C. 22 December 1946 1 17 June 2020 Henderson 1991 171Bullock, Buchanan and Gaddie 2015 128 The 1945 state constitution required a candidate receive a majority of votes to be elected governor; if no one had a majority, the General Assembly was to hold a contingent election between the top two candidates "who shall be in life, and shall not decline an election".1945 Constitution of Georgia http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ggpd/docs/1945/ga/c600/_ps1/p7/1945.con/1.pdf 32 Talmadge supporters believed this would require the General Assembly to choose between the second- and third-placed candidates in case of his death, and thus prepared by organizing enough write-in votes to ensure his son Herman Talmadge would take part.Bullock, Buchanan and Gaddie 2015 134-135Georgia Register 1950 542Henderson 1991 178Novotny 2007 233 Results D. Talmadge Bowers was a Republican.Bullock, Buchanan and Gaddie 2015 133 Talmadge backers claim Legislature for son https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1946-12-29/ed-1/seq-2/ Evening Star Washington, D.C. 29 December 1946 A-2 17 June 2020 1946 Georgia gubernatorial electionCongressional Quarterly 1998 48https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=174216 GA Governor, 1946 Our Campaigns 17 June 2020Glashan 1979 68-69Georgia Register 1950 538-543 Democratic Party (United States) Eugene Talmadge 143,279 98.54% Write-in Herman Talmadge 675 0.46% Write-in James V. Carmichael 669 0.46% Write-in D. Talmadge Bowers 637 0.44% Write-in Ellis Arnall 122 0.08% Write-in Eurith D. Rivers 6 0.00% Write-in Hoke O'Kelley 4 0.00% Write-in All others 11 0.01% 145,403 100.00% Democratic Party (United States) Aftermath On December 21, 1946, Talmadge died before taking office. The state constitution did not specify who would assume the governorship in such a situation, so three men made claims to the governorship: Ellis Arnall, the outgoing governor; Melvin E. Thompson, the lieutenant governor-elect; and Herman Talmadge, Eugene Talmadge's son. The General Assembly met to certify the election on January 14, 1947. When the returns were first opened, Republican write-in Talmadge Bowers was second, with James Carmichael third and Herman Talmadge fourth. However, additional write-in votes were discovered for Herman Talmadge from his home county of Telfair, probably the result of electoral fraud, and in the official results he was second.Hackle Al The 3 governors controversy https://www.statesboroherald.com/local/the-3-governors-controversy/ Statesboro Herald 5 August 2016 The General Assembly then declined to certify Eugene Talmadge as the winner, instead resolving that "no person had a majority of the whole number of votes" because of his death. It immediately proceeded to the contingent election between the top two living candidates.Thompson v. Talmadge 41 S.E.2d 883 Ga. 1947 https://case.law/caselaw/?reporter=ga&volume=201&case=0867-01 May 25, 2026 Carmichael declined to participate; Talmadge opponents voted present out of protest.Bullock, Buchanan and Gaddie 2015 165 1946 Georgia gubernatorial election - legislative electionNovotny 2007 233https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=261915 GA Governor, 1946 - Legislative Election Our Campaigns 17 June 2020 Herman Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) 161 64.92 Abstain 87 35.08 248 100.00 Thompson appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. The court ruled in March 1947 that Eugene Talmadge's death did not change the fact that a majority of votes had been cast for him, and the General Assembly had violated the constitution by resolving there was no majority. It defined the General Assembly's role in certification as purely ministerial, and held that the constitution did not allow it any discretion in the process, including considering the death of a candidate. Ironically, the court then resolved the initial controversy of who should have been governor after certification in favor of Ellis Arnall; since the constitution defined the gubernatorial term as four years but stipulated it does not expire until a successor is "chosen and qualified", and a dead person is not qualified, the court held Arnall should have continued serving as governor. However, he had voluntarily resigned any claim to the office on January 18 to make way for Thompson. At that point, the court held, power devolved on the duly elected lieutenant governor. In a 1985 interview, Arnall admitted he shared the interpretation that he could continue in office for up to another full term, but had little interest in doing so. Before he resigned, wanting to avoid "plung[ing] the state into a banana republic war", he first contacted an unnamed Supreme Court justice to ensure the court was likely to rule against the legislature, and thus would find his resignation would transfer power to Thompson.Arnall Ellis Ellis Arnall Harold P. (Hal) Henderson, Sr. Interview with Ellis Arnall, December 10, 1985 10 December 1985 University of Georgia https://georgiaoralhistory.libs.uga.edu/items/show/1817 29 June 2023 The constitution required a special election to complete the 1947–1951 gubernatorial term "at the next general election for members of the General Assembly", which was in November 1948. References Notes Bibliography Bullock Charles S. Buchanan Scott E. Gaddie Ronald Keith 2015 The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics https://books.google.com/books?id=J3PHBwAAQBAJ Athens University of Georgia Press 978-0-8203-4734-9 Bullock, Buchanan and Gaddie 2015 Congressional Quarterly Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997 Washington Congressional Quarterly 1998 1-56802-396-0 Congressional Quarterly 1998 Georgia Department of Archives and History J.E. Hays 1950 Georgia's Official Register, 1945-1950 https://archive.org/details/GeorgiasOfficialRegister19451950/mode/1up Atlanta Georgia Department of Archives and History Internet Archive Georgia Register 1950 Glashan Roy R. American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978 Meckler Books 1979 0-930466-17-9 Henderson Harold P. 1991 The Politics of Change in Georgia: A Political Biography of Ellis Arnall https://books.google.com/books?id=4lnsxHhybo8C&pg=PA171 Athens University of Georgia Press 0-8203-1306-8 Calvin Kytle James A. Mackay Who Runs Georgia? Athens University of Georgia Press 1998 9780820319865 Novotny Patrick 2007 This Georgia Rising: Education, Civil Rights, and the Politics of Change in Georgia in the 1940s https://books.google.com/books?id=9Li_lnmeAG0C&pg=PA233 Macon, Georgia Mercer University Press 978-0-88146-088-9 1946 Georgia Gubernatorial Category:November 1946 in the United States Category:Single-candidate gubernatorial elections in Georgia Category:July 1946 in the United States