1954 Georgia gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:1954 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary
Country:Georgia (U.S. state)
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1950 Georgia gubernatorial election
Previous Year:1950
Next Election:1958 Georgia gubernatorial election
Next Year:1958
Election Date:September 8, 1954
Flag Year:1920
Image1:File:Marvingriffin (cropped).gif
Nominee1:Marvin Griffin
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:234,690
Percentage1:36.32%
Electoral Vote1:302
Nominee2:Melvin E. Thompson
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:162,007
Percentage2:25.07%
Electoral Vote2:56
Image3:File:Tom Linder.png
Nominee3:Tom Linder
Party3:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote3:87,240
Percentage3:13.50%
Electoral Vote3:26
Image4:File:Fred Hand.png
Nominee4:Frederick Barrow Hand
Party4:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote4:78,125
Percentage4:12.09%
Electoral Vote4:22
Image5:File:Charlie Gowen.png
Nominee5:Charlie Gowen
Party5:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote5:73,809
Percentage5:11.42%
Electoral Vote5:4
Map Size:250px
Governor
Before Election:Herman Talmadge
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Marvin Griffin
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)
Needed Votes:206 unit
Votes For Election:410 county unit votes

The 1954 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1954.

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

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

Results

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.