1912 United States presidential election in Alabama explained

See main article: article and 1912 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1912 United States presidential election in Alabama
Country:	Alabama
Flag Year:	1923
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1908 United States presidential election in Alabama
Previous Year:	1908
Next Election:	1916 United States presidential election in Alabama
Next Year:	1916
Election Date:	November 5, 1912
Image1:	Woodrow Wilson-H&E.jpg
Nominee1:	Woodrow Wilson
Party1:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:	New Jersey
Running Mate1:	Thomas R. Marshall
Electoral Vote1:	12
Popular Vote1:	82,438
Percentage1:	69.94%
Nominee2:	Theodore Roosevelt
Party2:	Progressive
Color2:	A2ED70
Home State2:	New York
Running Mate2:	Hiram Johnson
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	22,680
Percentage2:	19.24%
Image3:	Unsuccessful 1912.jpg
Nominee3:	William Howard Taft
Party3:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State3:	Ohio
Running Mate3:	Nicholas M. Butler
Electoral Vote3:	0
Popular Vote3:	9,717
Percentage3:	8.24%
President
Before Election:	William Howard Taft
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Woodrow Wilson
After Party:	Democratic Party (United States)

The 1912 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose twelve representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Over the preceding twenty years, Alabama had become effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African Americans and a large proportion of poor whites via poll taxes, literacy tests^[1] and extralegal violence^[2] had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and a few other northern hill counties that had been Populist strongholds.^[3] The only competitive statewide elections became Democratic Party primaries limited by law to white voters.

Because the supporters of the Populist Party had previously been frequently lily-white Republicans,^[4] and Alabama had the most substantial white Republican support in the Deep South, Alabama’s white Republicans would after the 1901 constitutional convention immediately make efforts to expel blacks from the state Republican Party.^[5] For the 1904 Convention, President Theodore Roosevelt rejected this proposal, unlike in North Carolina where he acquiesced without opposition to the demands of Jeter Connelly Pritchard.^[5] During the rest of the decade, as conservative Democratic rule was consolidated throughout the state, the party did shift toward a more progressive policy,^[6] although African-American convict labour was increased in the coalfields near Birmingham during strikes late in the decade.^[7]

In the election year of 1912, Oscar D. Street was appointed state Republican Party boss as part of the black-and-tan faction loyal to incumbent president William Howard Taft and Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler.^[8] At the same time, Theodore Roosevelt and governor of California Hiram Johnson planned “lily-whitism” for the South with the “Bull Moose Party” after Roosevelt broke from the GOP.^[9]

No polls were taken in the state during the election season, and despite Roosevelt’s popularity even in the Solid South,^[10] Democratic nominees former Princeton University President and governor of New Jersey Woodrow Wilson and governor of Indiana Thomas R. Marshall won Alabama easily with 69.94% of the popular vote, against the 26th president of the United States, with 19.24 percent to Roosevelt and 8.24 percent to Taft.^[11]

Results

Results by county

1912 United States presidential election in Alabama by county

County	Thomas Woodrow Wilson^[12] Democratic		William Howard Taft Republican		Theodore Roosevelt^[13] Progressive "Bull Moose"		Eugene Victor Debs^[14] Socialist		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%
	Autauga		622		73.35%		43		5.07%		127		14.98%		56		6.60%		495		58.37%		848
	Baldwin		623		67.28%		37		4.00%		141		15.23%		125		13.50%		482		52.05%		926
	Barbour		1,155		90.38%		18		1.41%		88		6.89%		17		1.33%		1,067		83.49%		1,278
	Bibb		820		71.87%		40		3.51%		178		15.60%		103		9.03%		642		56.27%		1,141
	Blount		1,121		48.74%		567		24.65%		580		25.22%		32		1.39%		541		23.52%		2,300
	Bullock		736		99.19%		4		0.54%		2		0.27%		0		0.00%		732		98.65%		742
	Butler		903		83.00%		86		7.90%		80		7.35%		19		1.75%		817		75.09%		1,088
	Calhoun		1,666		70.62%		238		10.09%		423		17.93%		32		1.36%		1,243		52.69%		2,359
	Chambers		1,486		90.83%		28		1.71%		113		6.91%		9		0.55%		1,373		83.92%		1,636
	Cherokee		814		46.57%		88		5.03%		799		45.71%		47		2.69%		15		0.86%		1,748
	Chilton		880		39.18%		140		6.23%		1,154		51.38%		72		3.21%		-274		-12.20%		2,246
	Choctaw		489		86.40%		7		1.24%		66		11.66%		4		0.71%		423		74.73%		566
	Clarke		1,024		95.34%		13		1.21%		12		1.12%		25		2.33%		999		93.02%		1,074
	Clay		1,109		52.46%		64		3.03%		939		44.42%		2		0.09%		170		8.04%		2,114
	Cleburne		691		51.72%		133		9.96%		510		38.17%		2		0.15%		181		13.55%		1,336
	Coffee		1,277		70.67%		68		3.76%		395		21.86%		67		3.71%		882		48.81%		1,807
	Colbert		946		63.28%		228		15.25%		242		16.19%		79		5.28%		704		47.09%		1,495
	Conecuh		802		80.93%		60		6.05%		103		10.39%		26		2.62%		699		70.53%		991
	Coosa		763		63.27%		109		9.04%		317		26.29%		17		1.41%		446		36.98%		1,206
	Covington		1,251		73.54%		110		6.47%		147		8.64%		193		11.35%		1,058		62.20%		1,701
	Crenshaw		986		84.49%		47		4.03%		127		10.88%		7		0.60%		859		73.61%		1,167
	Cullman		1,230		42.49%		264		9.12%		1,374		47.46%		27		0.93%		-144		-4.97%		2,895
	Dale		1,059		66.02%		99		6.17%		443		27.62%		3		0.19%		616		38.40%		1,604
	Dallas		1,461		96.69%		16		1.06%		18		1.19%		16		1.06%		1,443		95.50%		1,511
	DeKalb		1,379		54.61%		492		19.49%		623		24.67%		31		1.23%		756		29.94%		2,525
	Elmore		1,152		81.70%		81		5.74%		167		11.84%		10		0.71%		985		69.86%		1,410
	Escambia		829		85.64%		52		5.37%		74		7.64%		13		1.34%		755		78.00%		968
	Etowah		1,511		52.18%		354		12.22%		887		30.63%		144		4.97%		624		21.55%		2,896
	Fayette		762		50.07%		434		28.52%		306		20.11%		20		1.31%		328		21.55%		1,522
	Franklin		849		47.09%		309		17.14%		570		31.61%		75		4.16%		279		15.47%		1,803
	Geneva		891		57.93%		99		6.44%		511		33.22%		37		2.41%		380		24.71%		1,538
	Greene		418		81.01%		4		0.78%		94		18.22%		0		0.00%		324		62.79%		516
	Hale		720		98.50%		4		0.55%		7		0.96%		0		0.00%		713		97.54%		731
	Henry		711		75.88%		47		5.02%		153		16.33%		26		2.77%		558		59.55%		937
	Houston		1,160		70.18%		82		4.96%		366		22.14%		45		2.72%		794		48.03%		1,653
	Jackson		1,597		70.82%		229		10.16%		406		18.00%		23		1.02%		1,191		52.82%		2,255
	Jefferson		8,887		72.69%		693		5.67%		2,034		16.64%		612		5.01%		6,853		56.05%		12,226
	Lamar		816		77.94%		61		5.83%		160		15.28%		10		0.96%		656		62.66%		1,047
	Lauderdale		1,386		68.68%		263		13.03%		297		14.72%		72		3.57%		1,089		53.96%		2,018
	Lawrence		643		56.70%		198		17.46%		261		23.02%		32		2.82%		382		33.69%		1,134
	Lee		1,179		88.98%		43		3.25%		43		3.25%		60		4.53%		1,119		84.45%		1,325
	Limestone		1,012		83.02%		90		7.38%		83		6.81%		34		2.79%		922		75.64%		1,219
	Lowndes		583		97.00%		4		0.67%		10		1.66%		4		0.67%		573		95.34%		601
	Macon		647		93.23%		24		3.46%		23		3.31%		0		0.00%		623		89.77%		694
	Madison		2,146		78.21%		150		5.47%		357		13.01%		91		3.32%		1,789		65.20%		2,744
	Marengo		1,386		97.88%		9		0.64%		20		1.41%		1		0.07%		1,366		96.47%		1,416
	Marion		1,098		65.05%		378		22.39%		205		12.14%		7		0.41%		720		42.65%		1,688
	Marshall		1,457		47.11%		428		13.84%		1,184		38.28%		24		0.78%		273		8.83%		3,093
	Mobile		3,009		79.98%		140		3.72%		445		11.83%		168		4.47%		2,564		68.16%		3,762
	Monroe		878		97.12%		2		0.22%		21		2.32%		3		0.33%		857		94.80%		904
	Montgomery		3,047		94.10%		43		1.33%		131		4.05%		17		0.53%		2,916		90.06%		3,238
	Morgan		1,686		71.11%		241		10.16%		362		15.27%		82		3.46%		1,324		55.84%		2,371
	Perry		731		93.84%		3		0.39%		31		3.98%		14		1.80%		700		89.86%		779
	Pickens		815		88.01%		22		2.38%		73		7.88%		16		1.73%		742		80.13%		926
	Pike		1,293		95.14%		13		0.96%		48		3.53%		5		0.37%		1,245		91.61%		1,359
	Randolph		1,177		64.99%		268		14.80%		366		20.21%		0		0.00%		811		44.78%		1,811
	Russell		1,553		96.22%		4		0.25%		35		2.17%		22		1.36%		1,518		94.05%		1,614
	Shelby		1,181		44.45%		201		7.56%		1,233		46.41%		42		1.58%		-52		-1.96%		2,657
	St. Clair		787		43.50%		260		14.37%		687		37.98%		75		4.15%		100		5.53%		1,809
	Sumter		701		97.09%		9		1.25%		2		0.28%		10		1.39%		691		95.71%		722
	Talladega		1,312		72.49%		111		6.13%		386		21.33%		1		0.06%		926		51.16%		1,810
	Tallapoosa		1,586		86.06%		84		4.56%		151		8.19%		22		1.19%		1,435		77.86%		1,843
	Tuscaloosa		1,695		85.22%		87		4.37%		158		7.94%		49		2.46%		1,537		77.28%		1,989
	Walker		2,063		57.71%		881		24.64%		504		14.10%		127		3.55%		1,182		33.06%		3,575
	Washington		405		90.20%		14		3.12%		18		4.01%		12		2.67%		387		86.19%		449
	Wilcox		878		97.77%		7		0.78%		7		0.78%		6		0.67%		871		96.99%		898
	Winston		508		29.88%		292		17.18%		893		52.53%		7		0.41%		-385		-22.65%		1,700
Totals	82,438	69.89%	9,717	8.24%	22,770	19.30%	3,029	2.57%	59,668	50.59%	117,954

See also

• United States presidential elections in Alabama

Notes and References

1. Book: Perman, Michael. Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, NC. 2001. Introduction. 9780807849095.
2. Book: Feldman, Glenn. The Disfranchisement Myth: Poor Whites and Suffrage Restriction in Alabama. 157. 0820326151.
3. Webb. Samuel L.. From Independents to Populists to Progressive Republicans: The Case of Chilton County, Alabama, 1880-1920. The Journal of Southern History. 59. 4. 707–736.
4. Feldman, The Disfranchisement Myth, p. 151
5. Book: Heersink. Jenkins. Boris. Jeffery A.. Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. 251–253. 9781107158436. 2020.
6. Web site: Harris, "Braxton Bragg Comer (1901-11)". Encyclopedia of Alabama.
7. Book: Kelly, Brian. Race, Class and Power in the Alabama Coalfields 1908-1921. Urbana. University of Illinois Free Press. 2001. 0252069331.
8. Book: Casdorph, Paul D.. Republicans, Negroes, and Progressives in the South, 1912-1916. The University of Alabama Press. 1981. 70, 94–95. 0817300481.
9. Link. Arthur S.. The Negro as a Factor in the Campaign of 1912. The Journal of Negro History. January 1947. 32. 1. 81–99. The University of Chicago Press.
10. Link. Arthur S.. Theodore Roosevelt and the South in 1912. The North Carolina Historical Review. July 1946. 23. 3. 313–324. North Carolina Office of Archives and History.
11. Web site: Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. 1912 Presidential Election Results – Alabama.
12. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition), pp. 226–227. Published 1947 by Stanford University Press.
13. Web site: Géoelections. 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Theodore Roosevelt. (.xlsx file for €15)
14. Web site: Géoelections. 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Eugene Debs. (.xlsx file for €15)