# 1936 Georgia gubernatorial election

Elections in Georgia :
Federal government
Presidential elections
1788–89
1792
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Presidential primaries
Democratic
2000
2004
2008
2016
2020
2024
Republican
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
U.S. Senate elections
1789
1792
1793
1794
1795
1798
1799
1800
1804
1806
1813
1816
1818
1819
1823
1824
1825
1828
1834
1837
1840
1843
1846
1847
1852
1858
1867
1871
1873
1877
1879
1883
1885
1888
1891
1894
1896
1900
1902
1909
1913
1914
1918
1920
1924
1926
1930
1932
1936
1938
1942
1944
1948
1950
1954
1956
1960
1962
1966
1968
1972
1974
1978
1980
1984
1986
1990
1992
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2008
2010
2014
2016
2020
2022
2026
2028
U.S. House elections
1789
1791
1792
1794
1796
1798
1800
1802
1804
1806
1808
1810
1812
1814
1816
1818
1820
1822
1824
1826
1828
1830
1832
1834
1836
1838
1840
1842
1844
1846
1848
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
6
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
4
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Special elections
Senate
1796
1806
1807
1809
1813
1816
1818
1819
1821
1824
1828
1829
1833
1835
1837
1845
1880
1882
1894
1907
1911
1914
1922
1932
1972
2000
2020
House
At-large
1801
1802
1803
1806
1812
1813
1816
1819
1824
1829
1831
1835
1836
1837
1841
1843
1844
1st
1792
1827
1879
1906
1931
2nd
1827
1910
1913
1953
3rd
1846
1896
1932
4th
1871
1872
1918
1939
5th
1870
1929
1946
1977
2020
6th
1870
1932
1999
2017
7th
1958
1983
8th
1873
1882
1917
1940
9th
1875
1877
2010
10th
1895
1933
2007 :
State government
State elections
2000
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Gubernatorial elections
1825
1827
1829
1831
1833
1835
1837
1839
1841
1843
1845
1847
1849
1851
1853
1855
1868
1871 (sp)
1872
1876
1880
1882
1883 (sp)
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1946
1948
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2026
Lieutenant gubernatorial elections
1990
1994
1998
2002
2018
2022
Secretary of State elections
2018
2022
Attorney General elections
2014
2018
2022
State Senate elections
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
House of Representatives elections
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Judicial elections
2024
Special elections
Governor
1871
1883
1948 :
Ballot measures
2004
Flag referendum
Amendment 1
2020
Amendment 1
Amendment 2
Tax referendum :
Atlanta
City elections
2009
Mayoral elections
1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025 :
Savannah
Mayoral elections
2015
2019
2023 :
Mableton
Mayoral elections
2023 :
vte :
The 1936 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1936, in order to elect the governor of Georgia.
Incumbent Democratic governor Eugene Talmadge was term-limited, and would become eligible to run for a third term only after spending four years out of office (thus in 1940). Talmadge instead ran for the U.S. Senate.
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 was held on September 9, 1936. As Rivers won a majority of county unit votes, there was no run-off.

### County unit system

From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party 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 of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.

### Candidates

* Blanton Fortson, Georgia Superior Court judge
* Charles D. Redwine, President of the Georgia State Senate
* Eurith D. Rivers, Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives and unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for governor in 1928 and 1930

### Results

| Candidate | Popular vote | Popular vote | County unit vote | County unit vote |
| Candidate | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| Eurith D. Rivers | 233,503 | 59.98 | 372 | 90.73 |
| Charles D. Redwine | 123,095 | 31.62 | 30 | 7.32 |
| Blanton Fortson | 32,715 | 8.40 | 8 | 1.95 |
| Total | 389,313 | 100.00 | 410 | 100.00 |
| Source: |||||

## General election

In the general election, Rivers faced token opposition.

### Results

1936 Georgia gubernatorial election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Eurith D. Rivers | 263,140 | 99.67% |
| | Prohibition | L. P. Glass | 873 | 0.33% |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 264,013 | 100.00% |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Swing | |