The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-10
TWO WILL ENT R RUN-OFF CONTEST IN M | { |SS|P ? |
Whitfield Leads In Governors Race With Nearly 80,000
 Votes With BiIbO Second
BULLETIN


 JACKSON, Miss, August 9.-Tabu- lation by the Clarion Ledger at S:15 m. tonight of the complete vote for governor from S1 of the S2 coun- ties in the state showed a total of 243.6l7 divided as follows: Whitfield S2.324; Bilbo 61751: Conner 46,671; Franklin, 36,605; Bell 16,266.
 The missing county was Issaquena, which in the senatorial primary last year with women participating, polled a total of l05 votes.
 An effort tonight to obtain the Is- saquena vote was met with the re- sponse that I've didn't count govern or; we have so few votes it makes no difference in result"
 JACKSON, Miss, August 9.--with candidates who sought nomination for state offices in Tuesdays demo- cratic primary still holding the rela- tive positions they had attained by midnight Tuesday, the contestants and political observers here tonight regarded the races as settled and in terest had switched to what ma jorities the final official figures
 The Jackson Daily News late to- day had tabulated 239,967 votes cast for the five Eubernatorial contest ants, the returns representing con- plete figures from 72 and nearly complete returns from eight other counties. Two counties were still missing, but they, together, boiled probably less than 5000 votes and the gap between the leading candi- dates was too great to be overcome. Of the total, II. l.. Whitfield was credited with 7S,S90; Theo C. Bilbo, ter C. Franklin, 3l,320 and Percy Bell, 17,916. On the face of the re- turns Whitfield and Bilbo will enter the run-off primary on August 2S to determine which will be next goVer- nor for nomination on the demo- cratic ticket in Mississippi is equivalent. to election.
 The size of the vote as evidenced by that boiled for governor, has proved to be one of the features of the primary, for it had been esti- r.ated it would only run from 200,UuO to 225,O00 and no one had believed before the voters went to the polls that the latter figure would be eX- ceeded. It was the first time. women had had an opportunity to vote in a purely state election, however, and since every office from governor to constable was to be filled, it appears tfat the candidates were successful in inducing their relatives ana friends to go to the polls in large
 
 senatorial primary last year and sW elled the total to more than 1S5,O0O, a new record for Mississippi, but this time they had a personal interest in the district and county cs csmpaigns and turned out in full force in order to vote for their friends.
 Another feature which attracted attention was the consistency with which the two factions of the demo- cratic party in the state supported their candidates This, according to political experts, was evidenced by the posi- ,ions the various candidates took at the outset and in the man Ter in which they were maintained. Che faction, the so-called Vardaman wing, supported Franklin and Bell for Governor The anti-Vardaman element supported Whitfield and Conner, while Bilbo drew largely from the Nardaman wing and had the support of others who voted for him simply because he was in the race. Whitfield and Conner spit the "anti-vote," Whitfield taking the greater part, while the relatively pCor showing of Franklin and Bell was due to the inroads of Bilbo.