| Claim | Claim | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herman Talmadge | Ellis Arnall | Melvin Thompson | |||
| Democratic | Democratic | Democratic | |||
| Claim: Elected by the General Assembly | Claim: Being the incumbent governor | Claim: Being the lieutenant governor | |||
| Outcome: Resigned | Outcome: Resigned | Outcome: Declared sole governor | |||
The three governors controversy was a political crisis in the U.S. state of Georgia from 1946 to 1947. On December 21, 1946, Eugene Talmadge, the governor-elect of Georgia, 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. Eventually a ruling by the Supreme Court of Georgia settled the matter in favor of Thompson. Georgia's Secretary of State Ben Fortson hid the state seal in his wheelchair so no official business could be conducted until the controversy was settled.
See main article: 1946 Georgia gubernatorial election.
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".[1] When Eugene Talmadge's health issues became evident in the fall of 1946, his supporters believed this provision 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.
Eugene Talmadge died on December 21, 1946, after the general election but before his swearing-in.
The General Assembly met to certify the 1946 election on January 14, 1947. When the returns were first opened and counted, Republican write-in Talmadge Bowers was second, with Democratic primary challenger James V. Carmichael third and Herman Talmadge fourth. However, after the first canvass, additional write-in votes were then discovered for Herman Talmadge from his home county of Telfair – probably the result of electoral fraud – and he ended up second in what became the official results.[2]
After this, 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.[3] Carmichael declined to participate; Talmadge opponents voted "present" out of protest, and Talmadge won the contingent election 181–87.
Both Arnall and Thompson refused to accept the vote by the General Assembly. Thompson began legal proceedings, appealing to the Supreme Court of Georgia. Arnall physically refused to leave, so on January 15, 1947, both Talmadge and Arnall sat in the Georgia State Capitol claiming to be the governor.[4] The next day, Talmadge took control of the governor's office and arranged to have the locks changed. On January 18, Arnall formally resigned any claim to the office in favor of Thompson.[3]
The state's highest court, the Supreme Court of Georgia, 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 to make way for Thompson. At that point, the court held, power devolved on the duly elected lieutenant governor.
Following the court's decision, Herman Talmadge ceded the office of governor to Thompson, ending the controversy. In any case of succession to the office of governor, the constitution required a special election to complete the gubernatorial term "at the next general election for members of the General Assembly", which was in November 1948.
Herman Talmadge then ran in the Democratic special primary, defeating Governor Thompson for the Democratic nomination with 51.8% of the votes to Thompson's 45.1%. Talmadge went on to win the general election with 97.51% of the vote.[5] He served the final 26 months (November 1948 to January 1951) of the term for which his father had been elected, and was elected for a further full term in November 1950.