New York state election, 1896

The 1896 New York state election was held on November 3, 1896, to elect the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor and a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly. Besides, a constitutional amendment on forestry was proposed, and rejected with 321,486 votes for and 710,505 against it.

History

The Democratic state convention met on September 17 at Buffalo, New York, and endorsed the Free Silver platform of the Democratic national convention. Mayor of Albany John Boyd Thacher, a Gold Democrat, was nominated for Governor on the first ballot (vote: Thacher 332, William Sulzer (Free Silver) 88, Wilbur F. Porter 20).^[1] Wilbur F. Porter (Free Silver) for Lieutenant Governor, and Robert C. Titus for the Court of Appeals, were nominated by acclamation.^[2] Thacher declined to run, and the Democratic State Committee met on September 28 at the Hotel Bartholdi in New York City, Elliott Danforth presided. They moved Porter one step up, and substituted Frederick C. Schraub (Free Silver) on the ticket for Lieutenant Governor.^[3]

Result

The whole Republican ticket was elected.

The incumbent Vann was re-elected.

At this time, automatic "ballot status" required 10,000 votes, which was reached by all parties.

1896 state election results

Ticket / Office	Governor		Lieutenant Governor		Judge of the Court of Appeals
Republican	Frank S. Black	787,516	Timothy L. Woodruff	793,845	Irving G. Vann	799,122
Democratic	Wilbur F. Porter[4]	574,524	Frederick C. Schraub[5]	565,063	Robert C. Titus[6]	555,942
National Democratic	Daniel G. Griffin[7]	26,698	Frederick W. Hinrichs[8]	25,593	Spencer Clinton[9]
Socialist Labor	Howard Balkam	18,362	Frederick Bennets[10]	18,673	Theodore F. Cuno[11]
Prohibition	William W. Smith[12]	17,449	Charles E. Latimer	17,136	Elias Root[13]
People's	Wilbur F. Porter		Fred C. Schraub[14]	4,172[15]	Lawrence J. McParlin[16]

Obs.: For candidates nominated on more than one ticket, the numbers are the total votes on all tickets.

Notes

1. ^ THACHER ON FIRST BALLOT in NYT on September 18, 1896
2. ^ FOR THACHER AND SILVER; Gold Candidate Placed on a Popocratic Platform in NYT on September 18, 1896
3. ^ W.F. PORTER IS MOVED UP in NYT on September 29, 1896
4. ^ Wilbur F. Porter (b. ca. 1841), lawyer, five times Mayor of Watertown
5. ^ Frederick C. Schraub (b. ca. 1856), lawyer, of Lowville, D.A. of Lewis County 1880, State Dairy Commissioner under Gov. Hill, State Commissioner of Agriculture 1893-96
6. ^ Robert C. Titus, D.A. of Erie Co., Superior Court of Erie Co. 1886-, Supreme Court justice
7. ^ Daniel G. Griifin (b. 1848), lawyer, of Watertown
8. ^ Frederick William Hinrichs (Sept. 12, 1851 Brooklyn - Nov 25, 1935), lawyer, Register of Arrears of Brooklyn 1894-95, ran also in 1896 for Lieutenant Governor
9. ^ Spencer Clinton (b. 1839 Buffalo), grandson of DeWitt Clinton, lawyer
10. ^ Frederick Bennets, of Yonkers, ran also for Secretary of State in 1891, and for Attorney General in 1893
11. ^ Theodore F. Cuno, ran also for Chief Judge in 1897
12. ^ William W. Smith, of Poughkeepsie, ran also for Treasurer in 1887, for Comptroller in 1891, and for Secretary of State in 1895
13. ^ Elias Root, ran also for Attorney General in 1895
14. ^ The name was thus printed on the ballot.
15. ^ These votes were not allowed to be counted, considering that there were over 500,000 votes with the name "Frederick C. Schraub," and these were taken as "defective." It did not make any difference to the result, and nobody objected.
16. ^ Lawrence Jermain McParlin (b. Nov. 14, 1848 Lockport), lawyer, ran also in 1881, 1886, 1888 and 1893; and for Chief Judge in 1882 and 1892

Sources

• A ballot from Orange County at Hudson River Valley Heritage
• The tickets: ALL STATES WILL VOTE in NYT on November 2, 1896
• The candidates: CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION in NYT on November 1, 1896
• Result in New York City: CITY'S OFFICIAL COUNT in NYT on November 22, 1896
• Result: THE VOTE OF NEW YORK; DECLARED BY THE STATE BOARD OF CANVASSERS in NYT on December 16, 1896

See also

New York gubernatorial elections