1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Election in South Dakota
The 1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 5 , 1912 , as part of the 1912 United States presidential election . Voters chose five representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College , who voted for president and vice president .
South Dakota voted for the Republican nominee, former president Theodore Roosevelt , over the Democratic nominee, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson , by a margin of 8.49%.
Despite incumbent president William Howard Taft winning the national Republican nomination, the South Dakota Republican Party, under the control of progressives and heavily influenced by senator Coe I. Crawford , instead nominated electors pledged to Theodore Roosevelt, with the Progressive Party not appearing on the ballot.[1] This selection proved controversial with conservative Taft supporting Republicans who unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the decision in court.[2] As a result, South Dakota was the only state in the 1912 election not to have president Taft either on the ballot or as a write in option (as in California ).[a] The state's other senator Robert J. Gamble , who supported Taft, predicted that the anger amongst conservative Republicans was such that many would support Woodrow Wilson purely to defeat Roosevelt.[3] Despite this Roosevelt carried the state albeit with a much reduced margin from Taft's victory in 1908 .
With 50.56% of the popular vote, South Dakota would prove to be Roosevelt's strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election and the only one in which he achieved a majority of the vote.[4] This was the only non-former Confederate state to give any candidate an absolute majority of the vote.
Results
Results by county
County[6]
Theodore Roosevelt Republican
Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic
Eugene Victor Debs Socialist
Eugene Wilder Chafin Prohibition
Margin
Total votes cast
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
Aurora
652
41.69%
801
51.21%
43
2.75%
68
4.35%
-149
-9.53%
1,564
Beadle
1,493
46.76%
1,464
45.85%
166
5.20%
70
2.19%
29
0.91%
3,193
Bennett
68
26.88%
179
70.75%
3
1.19%
3
1.19%
-111
-43.87%
253
Bon Homme
1,228
51.77%
1,059
44.65%
45
1.90%
40
1.69%
169
7.12%
2,372
Brookings
1,389
58.00%
740
30.90%
58
2.42%
208
8.68%
649
27.10%
2,395
Brown
1,746
35.57%
2,488
50.69%
385
7.84%
289
5.89%
-742
-15.12%
4,908
Brule
643
40.96%
842
53.63%
67
4.27%
18
1.15%
-199
-12.68%
1,570
Buffalo
83
42.56%
105
53.85%
4
2.05%
3
1.54%
-22
-11.28%
195
Butte
649
44.36%
601
41.08%
189
12.92%
24
1.64%
48
3.28%
1,463
Campbell
574
74.93%
150
19.58%
10
1.31%
32
4.18%
424
55.35%
766
Charles Mix
1,817
51.26%
1,625
45.84%
59
1.66%
44
1.24%
192
5.42%
3,545
Clark
949
54.67%
668
38.48%
36
2.07%
83
4.78%
281
16.19%
1,736
Clay
1,262
55.69%
929
41.00%
27
1.19%
48
2.12%
333
14.70%
2,266
Codington
1,195
48.44%
1,111
45.03%
71
2.88%
90
3.65%
84
3.40%
2,467
Corson
508
49.42%
455
44.26%
49
4.77%
16
1.56%
53
5.16%
1,028
Custer
395
43.26%
419
45.89%
91
9.97%
8
0.88%
-24
-2.63%
913
Davison
1,364
48.78%
1,266
45.28%
68
2.43%
98
3.51%
98
3.51%
2,796
Day
1,209
51.87%
787
33.76%
111
4.76%
224
9.61%
422
18.10%
2,331
Deuel
887
62.69%
441
31.17%
15
1.06%
72
5.09%
446
31.52%
1,415
Dewey
509
52.26%
411
42.20%
42
4.31%
12
1.23%
98
10.06%
974
Douglas
765
50.80%
714
47.41%
11
0.73%
16
1.06%
51
3.39%
1,506
Edmunds
640
43.13%
729
49.12%
26
1.75%
89
6.00%
-89
-6.00%
1,484
Fall River
846
50.09%
712
42.16%
100
5.92%
31
1.84%
134
7.93%
1,689
Faulk
568
43.76%
615
47.38%
23
1.77%
92
7.09%
-47
-3.62%
1,298
Grant
828
52.34%
619
39.13%
55
3.48%
80
5.06%
209
13.21%
1,582
Gregory
1,348
50.96%
1,176
44.46%
96
3.63%
25
0.95%
172
6.50%
2,645
Hamlin
1,058
66.79%
474
29.92%
17
1.07%
35
2.21%
584
36.87%
1,584
Hand
738
43.54%
826
48.73%
44
2.60%
87
5.13%
-88
-5.19%
1,695
Hanson
708
50.46%
632
45.05%
21
1.50%
42
2.99%
76
5.42%
1,403
Harding
600
54.45%
325
29.49%
113
10.25%
64
5.81%
275
24.95%
1,102
Hughes
447
41.50%
544
50.51%
63
5.85%
23
2.14%
-97
-9.01%
1,077
Hutchinson
1,451
67.84%
647
30.25%
12
0.56%
29
1.36%
804
37.59%
2,139
Hyde
398
56.86%
232
33.14%
53
7.57%
17
2.43%
166
23.71%
700
Jerauld
545
47.52%
436
38.01%
11
0.96%
155
13.51%
109
9.50%
1,147
Kingsbury
1,152
53.23%
747
34.52%
113
5.22%
152
7.02%
405
18.72%
2,164
Lake
1,174
59.87%
657
33.50%
79
4.03%
51
2.60%
517
26.36%
1,961
Lawrence
1,692
37.84%
2,412
53.95%
326
7.29%
41
0.92%
-720
-16.10%
4,471
Lincoln
1,674
66.40%
719
28.52%
56
2.22%
72
2.86%
955
37.88%
2,521
Lyman
990
51.43%
766
39.79%
135
7.01%
34
1.77%
224
11.64%
1,925
Marshall
601
47.85%
541
43.07%
45
3.58%
69
5.49%
60
4.78%
1,256
McCook
1,063
49.33%
962
44.64%
56
2.60%
74
3.43%
101
4.69%
2,155
McPherson
649
65.23%
327
32.86%
6
0.60%
13
1.31%
322
32.36%
995
Meade
1,032
46.28%
975
43.72%
152
6.82%
71
3.18%
57
2.56%
2,230
Mellette
261
44.01%
320
53.96%
5
0.84%
7
1.18%
-59
-9.95%
593
Miner
851
51.33%
720
43.43%
39
2.35%
48
2.90%
131
7.90%
1,658
Minnehaha
3,051
50.20%
2,576
42.38%
256
4.21%
195
3.21%
475
7.82%
6,078
Moody
932
52.10%
637
35.61%
119
6.65%
101
5.65%
295
16.49%
1,789
Pennington
1,073
45.52%
1,135
48.15%
117
4.96%
32
1.36%
-62
-2.63%
2,357
Perkins
1,052
50.07%
832
39.60%
177
8.42%
40
1.90%
220
10.47%
2,101
Potter
439
48.72%
423
46.95%
17
1.89%
22
2.44%
16
1.78%
901
Roberts
1,361
55.35%
812
33.02%
201
8.17%
85
3.46%
549
22.33%
2,459
Sanborn
880
56.63%
577
37.13%
19
1.22%
78
5.02%
303
19.50%
1,554
Spink
1,432
47.34%
1,347
44.53%
128
4.23%
118
3.90%
85
2.81%
3,025
Stanley
981
44.29%
1,051
47.45%
137
6.19%
46
2.08%
-70
-3.16%
2,215
Sully
292
51.05%
242
42.31%
19
3.32%
19
3.32%
50
8.74%
572
Tripp
1,153
51.27%
982
43.66%
82
3.65%
32
1.42%
171
7.60%
2,249
Turner
1,603
61.35%
906
34.67%
22
0.84%
82
3.14%
697
26.67%
2,613
Union
1,396
56.54%
965
39.08%
22
0.89%
86
3.48%
431
17.46%
2,469
Walworth
585
52.19%
451
40.23%
55
4.91%
30
2.68%
134
11.95%
1,121
Yankton
1,511
51.61%
1,289
44.02%
61
2.08%
67
2.29%
222
7.58%
2,928
Ziebach
371
48.43%
349
45.56%
36
4.70%
10
1.31%
22
2.87%
766
Totals
58,811
50.56%
48,942
42.07%
4,662
4.01%
3,910
3.36%
9,869
8.48%
116,325
See also
Notes
References