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Presidential
Elections
In Essex
by
Don Malcarne
Town Historian
With
2004 being a presidential election year, it might be well to
see how Essex has reacted in some previous national elections. I
examined some procedures and results of the past, commencing with
the 1860 vote, the year Abraham Lincoln was elected.
Initially, people did not vote
directly for a President and Vice President (and in reality, still
do not), but rather for a group of electors who would cast their
votes later for President. The names of the candidates were not
listed on the ballot, but rather the electors' names, who represented
the various parties actively presenting candidates. As a result
voting was much more on a party basis, in contrast to the situation
today.
The1860 Presidential vote was
held in the basement of the Methodist Meeting House, which
was located at the top of Methodist Hill, opposite the Congregational
Church. This building, which was built in 1849, had a "quarter"
basement with a wood floor, and is a private residence today. Cornelius
Doane was Moderator of this election and voting hours were from
9 to 5. Abraham Lincoln received 204 votes, Stephen Douglas 66,
John Breckenridge 57, and John Bell 29.
By 1884, voting was held in
the Town Hall, which was the original Methodist Church, and
later known as Braddick's Hall. This building is still extant,
and is opposite Hills Academy on Prospect Street . In 1888, Presidential
elections were held in two locations in town for the first time.
District #1 voted in the above-mentioned Town Hall, while District
#2 voted in Comstock Hall in Ivoryton. Comstock Hall was
located above the Ivoryton Store, and served primarily as a meeting
place for Comstock, Cheney, & Co. employees. The mere
fact of the formation of a second voting district in the western
section of town, shows the growing importance of the Ivoryton area,
both culturally and demographically. In this 1888 election, the
Republican electors received 317 votes, while their Democratic counterparts
received 225. This contrasted with the 1884 results where the Republicans
got 282 votes, the Democrats 244, the Prohibition Party electors
10, and the People's Party none.
The next few elections were
held at the same places, but notably, voter registration was held
in different places. In 1904 District #1 voters registered in the
Town Hall, while people in District #2 registered at the store of
Curtis P. Jones in Ivoryton center. After the construction
of Comstock, Cheney Hall (Ivoryton Playhouse) in 1911, subsequent
District #2 voting was held there, while in District #1 the people
still voted on Prospect Street, but at the Town Public Hall,
across from the Baptist Church. In 1940, the Ivoryton Library
became the District #2 voting place, a situation which existed until
1972, when voting was centralized in the auditorium of the West
Avenue Town Hall, although the District set-up was maintained.
This scenario has remained in effect since then.
The pattern of voting in these
Presidential elections was relatively consistent for many years.
In 1936 (voting was now for candidates directly, rather than electors),
Essex people supported the Landon/Knox ticket over Roosevelt/Garner
by 811 to 552. This was the election where a prominent magazine
predicted a solid Landon win due to telephone polls they had taken.
So much for early polling. In 1940, the voters in Essex solidly
supported the Republican, Wendell Wilkie, by 374 votes over
Franklin Roosevelt. The most decisive local victory was that
of Dwight Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson in 1952.
General Eisenhower had more than double his opponent's votes.
Richard Nixon won easily
in Essex when running against John Kennedy in 1960, garnering
1,506 votes, while Mr. Kennedy only came up with 806. President
Nixon did even better in 1972 when he defeated Senator McGovern
by 1,006 votes in town. However, in 1968, Richard Nixon was
only able to beat Senator Hubert Humphrey by 1,329 votes
versus 895. Henry Wallace received 88 votes in the 1968 election.
At one time, Governors, Lieutenant
Governors, and other State officials were elected in May every year.
This changed to every two years in 1876, and the time of election
was also switched to November. When state and national elections
coincided, voters often were faced with a multitude of names on
their ballots. This must have created a somewhat untenable and long
ballot. The "off year" selection of state officials has
alleviated this problem.
As a final note, in 1856, Attorney
Samuel Ingham of Essex ran for Governor on the Democratic
ticket and received 160 votes in town, the highest for any candidate.
He ran for Governor on three other occasions, and was a member of
the National House of Representatives from 1835 to 1839. He was
also a customs official in Washington,
D. C. from 1858 to 1861. As a result of all these political activities,
Samuel Ingham was the most prominent local politician until
Chester Bowles arrived in Essex in the late 1930s. Mr. Bowles
was also a Democrat, and succeeded in becoming Governor of Connecticut
for a two year term, from 1949 to 1951, after having served in Washington
as head of the Office of Price Administration during the Second
World War. He served later as United States Ambassador to India.
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