13 0 1,080,843 1,053,849 47.0% 45.8% Start date November 5, 1996 | 0 0 1,053,849 146,337 45.8% 6.4% | |
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The 1996 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 5, 1996 as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
Georgia was won by Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) by a narrow 1.2 percentage point margin of Victory. The presidential election in the Peach state was the third closest contest that year in any state with only Kentucky and Nevada being closer. Dole's victory was possible due to the declining support for Democrats in Georgia and many other Southeastern States, though the Democratic Party in Georgia would remain a significant institution until the early 2000s (decade). Billionaire businessman Ross Perot (Ref-TX), who had unsuccessfully run for president as an Independent in the previous election, won 6.4% of the popular vote in the Peach state, a significant total for a third party candidate. This is the last time to date that either a Democratic presidential nominee has finished within less than two percentage points of the Republican candidate or that any third party candidate has won more than five percent of the popular vote in Georgia.
During the concurrent U.S. Senate election in Georgia, Secretary of State of Georgia Max Cleland (D) narrowly defeated Businessman Guy Millner (R) 48.87% to 47.54% to win election to the seat that Incumbent Senator Sam Nunn (D) left open to retire. In addition, incumbent U.S. Representatives Sanford Bishop (D-GA-2), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA-8), and Charlie Norwood (R-GA-10) all received strong challenges that year during the House elections but were nonetheless re-elected.
Electors
Technically the voters of Georgia cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Georgia was allocated 13 electors because it has 11 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appeared on the ballot or qualified to receive write-in votes had to submit a list of 13 electors, who pledged to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever won the majority of votes in the state was awarded all 13 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 1996 to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Bob Dole and Jack Kemp.
- Thomas J. Barnette
- Dot Burns
- Jeanne Ferst
- Briggs A. Goggans
- Camilla Johnson-Moore
- Brenda R. (B.J.) Lopez
- Mack Mattingly
- Russell K. (Rusty) Paul
- Oscar N. Persons
- Alec Poitevint
- John M. Stuckey, Jr.
- Stan Wise
- Ray Wooldridge