A presidential election was held in Virginia on November 5, 1804, as part of the 1804 United States presidential election.[1] The Democratic-Republican Party's ticket of incumbent president Thomas Jefferson and former New York governor George Clinton was elected virtually without opposition.[2]

The Virginia Federalist Party chose not to contest the election.[3] Different lists of unpledged electors received write-in votes in a few counties; in some cases, these tickets included a mix of Federalist and Democratic-Republican candidates or were composed of fictitious names.[4] Federalist writers complained that the state's general ticket law made the election result a foregone conclusion, and voter turnout was noticeably low.[3] Jefferson won the national election in a landslide over the de facto Federalist candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who received 14 electoral votes to Jefferson's 162.[5]

General ticket

Summary

Virginia chose 24 electors on a statewide general ticket. Nineteenth-century election laws required voters to elect the members of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a block. This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential nominee, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party.[6] A confusing situation unfolded in Virginia, as a result of the Virginia Federalist Party's decision not to nominate electors.[7] More than 300 candidates received votes across 93 participating counties, including 24 electors on the Democratic-Republican ticket. While the Democratic-Republican candidates ran unopposed in much of the state,[3] several hundred write-in candidates received votes in a handful of counties as Federalist or "opposition" electors. Some opposition tickets included electors on the Democratic-Republican slate, while others were believed to be wholly fictitious.[8] Although a clandestine gathering of Congressional Federalists had nominated Pinckney in February,[9] the Virginia anti-Jefferson electors were apparently unpledged.[7]

In sum, the leading Democratic-Republican elector, William H. Cabell, received 12,926 votes; the leading Federalist elector received 75 votes; while several dozen unknown candidates received between 1 and 16 votes as anti-Jefferson electors. Cabell received 45 votes on opposition tickets, while James Allen received 12,866 votes as a Democratic-Republican and two votes as a Federalist.[10] The following table calculates the sum of the votes for the leading electors in each county to give an approximate sense of the statewide popular vote; for accuracy, votes for Cabell and Allen on anti-Jefferson tickets are subtracted from the Democratic-Republican total.

1804 United States presidential election in Virginia[11]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson
George Clinton 		12,914 98.94
Federalist Unpledged electors (write-in) 129 0.99
Write-in 9 0.07
Total votes 13,052 100.00

Results

1804 United States presidential election in Virginia[11]
Party Candidate Votes
Democratic-Republican William H. Cabell[a] 12,926
Democratic-Republican George Wythe 12,885
Democratic-Republican John Taylor 12,880
Democratic-Republican George Penn 12,878
Democratic-Republican Archibald Stewart 12,877
Democratic-Republican Larkin Smith 12,876
Democratic-Republican John Taliaferro 12,876
Democratic-Republican Creed Taylor 12,876
Democratic-Republican Mann Page 12,875
Democratic-Republican John Goodrich 12,873
Democratic-Republican Hugh Holmes 12,873
Democratic-Republican John Minor 12,873
Democratic-Republican Richard Brent 12,872
Democratic-Republican Richard Field 12,871
Democratic-Republican William Ellzey 12,870
Democratic-Republican Richard Evers Lee 12,869
Democratic-Republican Thomas Read 12,869
Democratic-Republican James Allen[b] 12,868
Democratic-Republican James MacFarlane 12,867
Democratic-Republican William McKinley 12,867
Democratic-Republican John Preston 12,866
Democratic-Republican James Daily 12,865
Democratic-Republican William Dudley 12,863
Democratic-Republican Edward Pegram 12,859
Write-in[c] 2,520
Total votes
 ≈13,052

Results by county

1804 United States presidential election in Virginia by county[11]
County Thomas Jefferson
Democratic-Republican		 Unpledged electors
Federalist		 Other Margin Total
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Accomack 23 100.00 — — 23 100.00 23
Albemarle 416 100.00 — — 416 100.00 416
Amelia 93 100.00 — — 93 100.00 93
Amherst 67 100.00 — — 67 100.00 67
Augusta 289[d] 91.17 28[e] 8.83 — 261 82.33 317
Bath 33 100.00 — — 33 100.00 33
Bedford 53 100.00 — — 53 100.00 53
Berkeley 134 100.00 — — 134 100.00 134
Botetourt 81 100.00 — — 81 100.00 81
Brooke 149 100.00 — — 149 100.00 149
Brunswick 83 100.00 — — 83 100.00 83
Buckingham 262 100.00 — — 262 100.00 262
Campbell 84 100.00 — — 84 100.00 84
Caroline 166 100.00 — — 166 100.00 166
Charles City 73 100.00 — — 73 100.00 73
Charlotte 316 100.00 — — 316 100.00 316
Chesterfield 126 100.00 — — 126 100.00 126
City of Williamsburg 42 84.00 8 16.00 — 34 68.00 50
Culpeper 192 99.48 1 0.52 — 191 98.96 193
Cumberland 109 100.00 — — 109 100.00 109
Dinwiddie 81 100.00 — — 81 100.00 81
Elizabeth City 57 100.00 — — 57 100.00 57
Essex 138 99.28 1 0.72 — 137 98.56 139
Fairfax 171 90.00 19 10.00 — 152 80.00 190
Fauquier 91 100.00 — — 91 100.00 91
Fluvanna 183 100.00 — — 183 100.00 183
Franklin 171 100.00 — — 171 100.00 171
Frederick 316 100.00 — — 316 100.00 316
Gloucester 226 99.56 — 1 0.44% 226 99.56 227
Goochland 160 100.00 — — 160 100.00 160
Grayson 49 100.00 — — 49 100.00 49
Greenbrier 81[d] 97.59 2[e] 2.41 — 79 95.18 83
Greensville 94 100.00 — — 94 100.00 94
Halifax 398 100.00 — — 398 100.00 398
Hampshire 90 100.00 — — 90 100.00 90
Hanover 171 100.00 — — 171 100.00 171
Hardy 32 100.00 — — 32 100.00 32
Harrison 317 100.00 — — 317 100.00 317
Henrico 230 100.00 — — 230 100.00 230
Henry 78 100.00 — — 78 100.00 78
Isle of Wight 239 100.00 — — 239 100.00 239
James City 66 95.65 3 4.35 — 63 91.30 69
Jefferson 98 100.00 — — 98 100.00 98
Kanawha ** ** ** ** **
King and Queen 270 100.00 — — 270 100.00 270
King George 96 91.43 9 8.57 — 87 82.86 105
King William 85 100.00 — — 85 100.00 85
Lancaster 183 97.34 5[e] 2.66 — 178 94.68 188
Lee 62 100.00 — — 62 100.00 62
Loudoun 57 100.00 — — 57 100.00 57
Louisa 130 100.00 — — 130 100.00 130
Lunenburg 68 100.00 — — 68 100.00 68
Madison 160 100.00 — — 160 100.00 160
Mathews 103 100.00 — — 103 100.00 103
Mecklenburg 145 100.00 — — 145 100.00 145
Middlesex 137 97.86 3 2.14 — 134 95.71 140
Monongalia 272 91.28 26 8.72 — 246 82.55 298
Monroe 72 92.31 6 7.69 — 66 84.62 78
Montgomery 61 100.00 — — 61 100.00 61
Nansemond 23 100.00 — — 23 100.00 23
New Kent 47 100.00 — — 47 100.00 47
Norfolk 305 99.67 1 0.33 — 304 99.35 306
Northampton 8 100.00 — — 8 100.00 8
Northumberland 219 100.00 — — 219 100.00 219
Nottoway 84 100.00 — — 84 100.00 84
Ohio 145 98.64 2 1.36 — 143 97.28 147
Orange 124 100.00 — — 124 100.00 124
Patrick 40 100.00 — — 40 100.00 40
Pendleton 119[d] 92.25 10[e] 7.75 — 109 84.50 129
Pittsylvania 358 100.00 — — 358 100.00 358
Powhatan 111 100.00 — — 111 100.00 111
Prince Edward 188 100.00 — — 188 100.00 188
Prince George 57 100.00 — — 57 100.00 57
Prince William 124 98.41 2 1.59 — 122 96.83 126
Princess Anne 153 100.00 — — 153 100.00 153
Randolph 58 ** **[f] — ** **
Richmond 132 100.00 — — 132 100.00 132
Rockbridge 240 100.00 — — 240 100.00 240
Rockingham 421 100.00 — — 421 100.00 421
Russell 31 100.00 — — 31 100.00 31
Shenandoah 360 100.00 — — 360 100.00 360
Southampton 133 100.00 — — 133 100.00 133
Spotsylvania 102 100.00 — — 102 100.00 102
Stafford 63 100.00 — — 63 100.00 63
Surry 93 100.00 — — 93 100.00 93
Sussex 203 100.00 — — 203 100.00 203
Tazewell 49 100.00 — — 49 100.00 49
Warwick 51 100.00 — — 51 100.00 51
Washington 409 100.00 — — 409 100.00 409
Westmoreland 68 100.00 — — 68 100.00 68
Wood 65 89.04 — 8 10.96 65 89.04 73
Wythe 33 100.00 — — 33 100.00 33
York 69 95.83 3 4.17 — 66 91.67 72
TOTAL 12,914 98.94 129 0.99 9 0.07 12,785 97.95 13,052

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Including 45 votes on opposition tickets.
  2. ↑ Including two votes on a Federalist ticket.
  3. ↑ Excluding votes for unknown candidates.
  4. 1 2 3 Including votes for William H. Cabell as an elector on the Democratic-Republican ticket.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Including votes for William H. Cabell as an elector on the Federalist ticket.
  6. ↑ At least 13 distinct Federalist tickets received an unknown number of votes.

References

  1. ↑ Harman 1922, p. 297.
  2. ↑ Lampi 2012, Final Result.
  3. 1 2 3 Broussard 1978, p. 84.
  4. ↑ Lampi 2012, n25, n36, n50–55, n59, n61, n63–64, n78–79.
  5. ↑ Dauer 2002, pp. 159, 183.
  6. ↑ Lampi n.d.
  7. 1 2 Lampi 2012, n25.
  8. ↑ Lampi 2012, n25, n36, n54–55, n59, n63–64.
  9. ↑ Broussard 1978, p. 83.
  10. ↑ Lampi 2012, Final Result, n36, n50–55, n59, n61, n63–64, n78–79.
  11. 1 2 3 Lampi 2012.

Bibliography

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_United_States_presidential_election_in_Virginia