Presidential Elections in Essex
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.