The 1940 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1940, in order to elect the

Governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...

. Incumbent

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Governor Eurith D. Rivers was term-limited, and ineligible to run for a third term until spending four years out of office (thus in 1944). As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran with only token opposition 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 Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

was held on September 11, 1940. As Talmadge won a majority of county unit votes, there was no run-off.

County unit system

From 1917 until 1962, the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections. 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. 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 A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.

Candidates

*Hosea Abit Nix, attorney and unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for Governor in

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*Columbus Roberts, businessman * Eugene Talmadge, former Governor

Results

General election

In the general election, Talmadge faced token opposition.

Results

References

Bibliography

* * * {{1940 United States elections

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

Georgia Gubernatorial November 1940 events United States gubernatorial elections in the 1940s 1940 in Georgia (U.S. state) 1940s in Georgia (U.S. state) 1940s Georgia (U.S. state) elections September 1940 events 1940 elections 1940 elections in North America 1940 elections in the United States Government of Georgia (U.S. state)