County unit system
The county unit system was a voting system used by the U.S. state of Georgia to determine a victor in statewide primary elections, as well as some Congressional elections, from 1917 until 1962.[1][2]
History
Though the county unit system had informally been used since 1898, it was formally enacted by the Neill Primary Act of 1917. The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the
For the period this system was in effect, the
Organization
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.[3][4]
Candidates were required to obtain a
Controversy
The county unit system generated great controversy owing to the fact that it gave the votes of counties with smaller populations a significantly greater weight than counties with larger populations. For at least the final two decades the system was in use, a majority of statewide unit votes were controlled by counties that, collectively, had less than one-third of the state's total population.[5][6] Because of this, statewide candidates for office could (and frequently did) win the primary by winning the county unit vote while losing the overall popular vote, sometimes by large margins. This also gave rise to kingmakers such as Roy V. Harris, who were known for their ability to deliver the unit votes of many rural counties.[4][7]
One of the most controversial elections of the county unit system era was the 1946 Democratic gubernatorial primary. By winning a large number of rural counties, Eugene Talmadge garnered a nearly 60% majority of the statewide county unit votes and won the primary, even though he lost the popular vote by 16,144 votes to James V. Carmichael, who himself only won a plurality, not a majority, of the popular vote.[1][8]
Candidate | Popular vote | County unit vote | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |
Eugene Talmadge | 297,245 | 42.96 | 244 | 59.51 |
James V. Carmichael | 313,389 | 45.30 | 144 | 35.12 |
Eurith D. Rivers | 69,489 | 10.04 | 22 | 5.37 |
Hoke O'Kelley | 11,758 | 1.70 | ||
Total | 691,881 | 100.00 | 410 | 100.00 |
Source: [8] |
Legal challenges and overturning
Several lawsuits were filed in the 1940s and 1950s challenging the constitutionality of the system. These lawsuits were rejected by the
Following the 1962 Baker v. Carr decision, James Sanders, a voter in Fulton County, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia which challenged the legality of the county unit system. James H. Gray, the chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, was one of the defendants named in the suit. Judge Griffin Bell ruled in Sanders' favor, issuing an injunction against using the system just months before the 1962 gubernatorial primary.[5]
Gray appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which on March 8, 1963, rendered a decision by a vote of 8–1 declaring the county unit system unconstitutional in its current form. In the majority opinion, Justice William O. Douglas wrote, "The concept of political equality ... can mean only one thing—one person, one vote." The Gray v. Sanders case was the first "one person, one vote" decision handed down by the Supreme Court.[10]
Aftermath
Governor Ernest Vandiver had pledged to maintain the county unit system,[11] but after Judge Bell issued the injunction against its usage, Vandiver then ordered the Georgia Democratic State Executive Committee to conduct the 1962 primary by popular vote.[12]
Due to the court's injunction of the county unit system in 1962, that year's Democratic gubernatorial primary was the first to be decided by popular vote since 1908.
Candidate | Votes | % |
---|---|---|
Carl Sanders | 494,978 | 58.07 |
Marvin Griffin | 332,746 | 39.04 |
Grace Wilkey Thomas | 12,579 | 1.48 |
Hoke O'Kelley | 8,728 | 1.02 |
Cecil L. Langham | 3,319 | 0.39 |
Total | 852,350 | 100.00 |
Source: [15] |
Following the 1963 Gray v. Sanders decision, the Georgia Legislature had the option to redesign the county unit system to meet the new "one person, one vote" standard. The legislature chose, instead, to continue electing statewide offices by their popular vote, which continues to the present day. The newly elected Governor Sanders also spearheaded a massive
However, conservative legislators feared the end of the county unit system as portending a loss of white power in the electoral process, and State Representative
References
- ^ a b "County Unit System". Georgia County Clerks Association. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ Bullock III, Charles S.; Buchanan, Scott E.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith (2015). The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics. University of Georgia Press. p. 10.
- ^ a b "Eugene Talmadge". The Jim Crow Encyclopedia. The African American Experience. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ a b c "County Unit System, eh?". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. October 6, 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Buchanan, Scott (April 15, 2005). "County Unit System". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ Cook, Earl Pope (1946). "Earl P. Cook Collection of County Unit System Materials". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ Huff, Christopher Allen (June 28, 2007). "Roy V. Harris". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ a b State of Georgia. "Consolidated Vote, State Democratic Primary, July 17, 1946". Georgia's Official Register, 1945-1950 (PDF). p. 486. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
- ^ "Baker v. Carr decision". Findlaw. March 26, 1962. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ "Gray v. Sanders decision". FindLaw. March 8, 1963. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ISBN 978-0820322230. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ "Ernest Vandiver Jr. (1918-2005)". georgiaencyclopedia.org. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ J. Harmon Smith. "History of Georgia's County Unit System". Written at Atlanta, Georgia. In Virginia W. Atwell (ed.). Georgia's Official Register, 1961–1962 (PDF). Hapeville, Georgia: Longino & Porter. pp. 943–944. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
- ^ a b Cook, James F. (September 12, 2002). "Carl Sanders". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ State of Georgia. "Consolidated Vote, State Democratic Primary, Held September 12, 1962". Written at Atlanta, Georgia. In Virginia W. Atwell (ed.). Georgia's Official Register, 1961–1962 (PDF). Hapeville, Georgia: Longino & Porter. p. 1436. Retrieved August 17, 2013.