jimrtex
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« on: February 17, 2005, 02:14:10 PM » |
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11 states had ratified the Constitution at the time of the first election (RI and NC were the two latecomers). In 5 states, the electors were to be chosen by the legislature, but NY failed to do so. The four states that did not involve the people directly in the choice of the electors were CT, NJ, SC, and GA. In the states where the electors participated:
New Hampshire (5 electors)
Voters could vote for 5 individuals, but in the event of no candidate receiving a majority, the legislature would make the choice. It appears that many voters voted for some prominent locally. Of 20 thousand votes cast (4,000+ voters), the top 10 candidates collectively received short of 9,000 votes, with the 11,000 other votes scattered among dozens of candidates. No canidate received a majority, leaving the selection of electors to the legislature.
Massachusetts (10 electors)
The legislature chose the elector from between the two leading candidates in each electoral district, and also chose two other electors. It is possible that the electoral districts were coincident with the congressional districts. In any case, the electoral districts corresponded to county boundaries: Essex; Suffolk(*); Middlesex; Worcester; Hampshire(*)&Berkshire; Plymouth&Barnstable; Bristol, Dukes, and Natucket; and District of Maine.
(*) Suffolk included Norfolk county (the map shows the current southern boundary of Norfolk extending all the way to the coast. Was this the boundary between the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies?
(*) Hampshire included the three modern Connecticut valley counties.
Typically, there were around half dozen candidates, with 1000 to 2000 votes cast.
Pennsylvania (10 electors)
The votes are shown for the highest vote total for each of the two slates, but it appears there were strong local flavor to the election. For example, in Philadelphia the Federalist slate received 99.4% of the vote, while over half the Anti-Federalist vote came from Chester County (43% of the county vote).
The Federalists received around 90% of the 7,000+ votes.
Delaware (3 electors)
One elector was chosen from each of the 3 counties. Only the vote total for the leading candidate (and none for the 3rd) are known. It appears that 1 to 2,000 votes were cast.
Maryland (6 electors)
The vote totals are shown for the two slates, with the Federalists receiving 77% of around 10,000 votes. The vote was very regional with the Anti-Federalists receiving 40% or so in Baltimore, Baltimore City, and Ann Arundel (Annapolis), and 0% of the vote in Washington County.
Virginia (12 electors).
Virginia elected its 12 electors from electoral districts (ie no statewide electors were chosen). Two of the electoral districts were west of the Blue Ridge. One included most of what is now northern West Virginia, plus the area around Winchester in the northern Shenadoah Valley. The other included the southern part of the Shenadoach valley, what is now southwestern Virginia, southern West Virginia and Kentucky.
Much of the vote totals are missing, but it appears around 1,000 to 2,000 voted in each electoral district.
Overall, the first election may have drawn on the order of 50,000 votes.
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