The 1918 New York state election was held on November 5, 1918, to elect the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, the secretary state, the state comptroller, the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, the

state treasurer In the state governments of the United States, 48 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the position in 1926; duties were transferred to New York State Comptroller. Texas abolished the position of Texas ...

and the state engineer, as well as all members of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

and the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

History

This was the first state election following

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. The primaries were held on September 3.

Republican primary

Democratic primary

Prohibition primary

The Prohibition state conference in July had designated State Chairman Olin S. Bishop to run in the primary for Governor, but on August 31 the enrolled party members received a circular from Bishop urging them to vote for the incumbent Republican Governor Charles S. Whitman by writing his name in the ballot. The friends of the incumbent Republican Comptroller Eugene M. Travis gathered enough signatures to put him on the Prohibition primary ballot, and the regular candidate Claude V. Stowell also urged the party members to vote for Travis.

Socialist primary

All Socialist primary candidates won without opposition.

Result

The Democratic candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor were elected with the remainder of the Republican ticket. The incumbents Whitman and Schoeneck were defeated. The incumbents Hugo, Travis, Wells and Williams were re-elected. Obs.: *"Blank, void and scattering" votes: 61,052 (Governor) *The number for Travis is total on Republican and Prohibition tickets. The votes given for Governor were used to define the ballot access, and are given separately.The total number of votes for Whitman, given by the NYT as "995,094" is more than the total of the separate votes stated here, given by the ''New York Red Book'' for Republican and Prohibition tickets, because it was possible to vote for any candidate writing the name in the "no-party" column. To define the winner of the election, all votes were counted; to define ballot access, only the votes received on the party's ticket.

Notes

Sources

*Early primary returns
''WHITMAN NAMED TO FIGHT SMITH FOR GOVERNORSHIP''
in NYT on September 4, 1918 *Primary results
''WHITMAN'S VOTE 295,471''
in NYT on September 13, 1918 *Result in Westchester County
''WHITMAN GAINS ONE VOTE IN THIS CITY''
in NYT on November 14, 1918 *Soldiers' vote in New York City
''SOLDIERS ADD 7,419 TO SMITH PLURALITY''
in NYT on December 18, 1918 *Result
''SMITH IS SWORN IN AS GOVERNOR''
in NYT on December 31, 1918 *Vote totals taken from The New York Red Book 1919