Election
In the 1792 constitution, the governor and state senators were chosen by electors, in a manner similar to the operation of the United States Electoral College. In the 1795 gubernatorial election, Benjamin Logan received 21 electoral votes, James Garrard received 17, Thomas Todd received 14, and John Brown received 1. The constitution did not specify whether election required a plurality or a majority of the electoral votes cast; in the absence of any instruction, the electors held a runoff vote, wherein most of Todd's electors voted for Garrard, giving him a majority. The secretary of state certified Garrard's election, though Attorney General John Breckinridge questioned the legality of the second vote and Logan formally protested it. Ultimately, Breckinridge determined that he was not empowered by the state constitution to intervene, and Logan gave up the challenge. The 1799 constitution changed the method of selecting the governor to direct election by majority vote and prescribed that, in the event of a tie vote, the governor would be chosen by lot in the Kentucky General Assembly. This provision has remained since 1799.
After the development of the party system, it became commonplace for political parties to choose their nominees for the office of governor via a nominating convention. Thomas Metcalfe was the first gubernatorial candidate chosen by a nominating convention; he was nominated by the National Republican Party at their convention in December 1827. Governor Ruby Laffoon, elected in 1931, was the last governor of Kentucky nominated by a convention. Laffoon's lieutenant governor, Happy Chandler, pushed the legislature to mandate party primaries, which they did in 1935. Party primaries remain required by law today. In 1992, the state constitution was amended to require candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to be nominated and elected as a ticket.
Kentucky is one of only five U.S. states to hold gubernatorial elections in odd-numbered years—commonly called an off-year election. Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, and New Jersey also hold off-year gubernatorial elections. The general election for governor and lieutenant governor is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The governor and lieutenant governor are inaugurated on the fifth Tuesday after their election. This was changed from the fourth Tuesday after the election by the 1850 constitution.
Read more about this topic: Governor Of Kentucky
Famous quotes containing the word election:
“Savages cling to a local god of one tribe or town. The broad ethics of Jesus were quickly narrowed to village theologies, which preach an election or favoritism.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“[If not re-elected in 1864] then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“In the past, as now, Haiti’s curse has been her politicians. There are still too many men of influence in the country who believe that a national election is a mandate from the people to build themselves a big new house in Petionville and Kenscoff and a trip to Paris.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)