1896 New York state election explained

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.

A total of 9,497 blank, void, and scattering ballots are excluded from the infobox below:

1896 state election results

Office	Republican ticket		Democratic ticket		National Democratic ticket		Socialist Labor ticket		Prohibition ticket		People's ticket
Governor		Frank S. Black	787,516	Wilbur F. Porter[4]	574,524	Daniel G. Griffin[5]	26,698	Howard Balkam	18,362	William W. Smith[6]	17,449	Wilbur F. Porter
Lieutenant Governor		Timothy L. Woodruff	793,845	Frederick C. Schraub[7]	565,063	Frederick W. Hinrichs[8]	25,593	Frederick Bennets[9]	18,673	Charles E. Latimer	17,136	Fred C. Schraub[10]	4,172[11]
Judge of the Court of Appeals		Irving G. Vann	799,122	Robert C. Titus	555,942	Spencer Clinton[12]	23,585	Theodore F. Cuno[13]	18,710	Elias Root[14]	17,205	Lawrence J. McParlin[15]	8,344

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

Notes

1. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/09/18/108247905.pdf THACHER ON FIRST BALLOT
2. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/09/18/108247714.pdf FOR THACHER AND SILVER; Gold Candidate Placed on a Popocratic Platform
3. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/09/29/108250786.pdf W.F. PORTER IS MOVED UP
4. Wilbur F. Porter (b. ca. 1841), lawyer, five times Mayor of Watertown
5. Daniel G. Griifin (b. 1848), lawyer, of Watertown
6. William W. Smith, of Poughkeepsie, ran also for Treasurer in 1887, for Comptroller in 1891, and for Secretary of State in 1895
7. 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
8. Frederick William Hinrichs (Sept. 12, 1851 Brooklyn - Nov 25, 1935), lawyer, Register of Arrears of Brooklyn 1894-95
9. Frederick Bennets, of Yonkers, ran also for Secretary of State in 1891, and for Attorney General in 1893
10. The name was thus printed on the ballot.
11. These votes were not allowed to be counted, considering that there were over 500,000 votes with the name "Frederick C. Schraub". The "Fred" votes were returned as "defective" and, as it did not make any difference to the result, nobody objected.
12. Spencer Clinton (b. 1839 Buffalo), grandson of DeWitt Clinton, lawyer
13. Theodore F. Cuno, ran also for Chief Judge in 1897
14. Elias Root, ran also for Attorney General in 1895
15. 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
• Result: The Tribune Almanac 1897

See also

New York gubernatorial elections