1934 Georgia gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:1934 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary
Country:Georgia (U.S. state)
Flag Year:1920
Type:Presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1932 Georgia gubernatorial election
Previous Year:1932
Next Election:1936 Georgia gubernatorial election
Next Year:1936
Election Date:September 12, 1934
Nominee1:Eugene Talmadge
Electoral Vote1:394
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:178,409
Percentage1:65.95%
Nominee2:Claude Pittman
Electoral Vote2:16
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:87,049
Percentage2:32.18%
Map Size:200px
Governor
Before Election:Eugene Talmadge
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Eugene Talmadge
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)
Votes For Election:410 county unit votes
Needed Votes:206 unit

The 1934 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1934, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Eugene Talmadge was re-elected to a second term.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed 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 12, 1934. 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.[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.

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

Results

General election

In the general election, Talmadge ran unopposed.

Results

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 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 .
  2. Web site: 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 .
  3. Web site: County Unit System, eh? . 6 October 2011 . Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies . 8 June 2020.
  4. Web site: County Unit System . Buchanan . Scott . 13 June 2017 . New Georgia Encyclopedia . 8 June 2020.
  5. News: . Governor races in South heated . Evening Star . Washington, D.C. . 24 June 1934 . B-2 . 13 June 2020 .
  6. News: . Candidate: Alderman Ed A. Gilliam . Evening Star . Washington, D.C. . 13 May 1934 . F-2 . 13 June 2020 .
  7. Book: Anderson, William . 1975 . The Wild Man from Sugar Creek: The Political Career of Eugene Talmadge . Baton Rouge, LA . Louisiana State University Press . 105 . 0-8071-0088-9.