The 1916 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 7, 1916, as part of the nationwide presidential election. State voters chose twelve representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Since the 1890s, Alabama had been effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and a large proportion of poor whites via poll taxes, literacy tests and extralegal violence had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and a few nearby northern hill counties that had been Populist strongholds. The only competitive statewide elections became Democratic Party primaries that were limited by law to white voters.

Unlike the other Deep South states, however, soon after black disenfranchisement Alabama's white Republicans made rapid efforts to expel blacks from the state Republican Party. For the 1904 Convention, President Theodore Roosevelt rejected this proposal, unlike in North Carolina where he acquiesced without opposition to the demands of Jeter Connelly Pritchard. Oscar D. Street was appointed state party boss as part of the pro-Taft “black and tan” faction in 1912, while Roosevelt planned “lily-whitism” for the South with his “Bull Moose” party after he broke from the GOP. Roosevelt's personal popularity even in the overwhelmingly Democratic Deep South meant he easily outpolled Taft in the region, and in Alabama this led the pro-Taft Street to move the state GOP in a lily-white direction much earlier than any other Deep South state.Heersink and Jenkins; Republican Party Politics and the American South, pp. 36-39

With President Wilson still popular, however, the shift to a lily-white Republican Party would have no effect on Alabama's presidential voting. An early poll in August saw incumbent President Woodrow Wilson (D–New Jersey), running with incumbent Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, with 24 votes, against Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes (R–New York), running with former Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, with five votes. All later forecasts showed the state going to Wilson, and in the end the small August poll proved fairly accurate, with Wilson winning 76.04 percent of the vote to Hughes’ 21.92 percent. Wilson carried all but three counties, and his appeal to Progressive former Populists allowed him to carry one of the four counties — Cullman — that the “Bull Moose” party had won in 1912.

Results

Results by county CountyWoodrow WilsonDemocraticCharles Evans HughesRepublicanAllan L. BensonSocialistFrank HanlyProhibitionMarginTotal votes cast # % # % # % # % # % Autauga 773 87.05% 99 11.15% 11 1.24% 5 0.56% 674 75.90% 888 Baldwin 766 67.19% 216 18.95% 148 12.98% 10 0.88% 550 48.25% 1,140 Barbour 1,235 94.64% 45 3.45% 13 1.00% 12 0.92% 1,190 91.19% 1,305 Bibb 1,247 78.58% 217 13.67% 106 6.68% 17 1.07% 1,030 64.90% 1,587 Blount 1,488 54.13% 1,229 44.71% 26 0.95% 6 0.22% 259 9.42% 2,749 Bullock 743 99.20% 4 0.53% 2 0.27% 0 0.00% 739 98.66% 749 Butler 1,162 93.03% 78 6.24% 6 0.48% 3 0.24% 1,084 86.79% 1,249 Calhoun 2,231 81.81% 442 16.21% 29 1.06% 25 0.92% 1,789 65.60% 2,727 Chambers 1,679 89.88% 168 8.99% 7 0.37% 14 0.75% 1,511 80.89% 1,868 Cherokee 1,136 67.78% 508 30.31% 27 1.61% 5 0.30% 628 37.47% 1,676 Chilton 881 38.34% 1,363 59.31% 40 1.74% 14 0.61% -482 -20.97% 2,298 Choctaw 765 95.63% 21 2.63% 12 1.50% 2 0.25% 744 93.00% 800 Clarke 1,397 97.42% 25 1.74% 12 0.84% 0 0.00% 1,372 95.68% 1,434 Clay 1,196 63.72% 677 36.07% 1 0.05% 3 0.16% 519 27.65% 1,877 Cleburne 760 56.21% 578 42.75% 5 0.37% 9 0.67% 182 13.46% 1,352 Coffee 2,029 81.95% 426 17.21% 17 0.69% 4 0.16% 1,603 64.74% 2,476 Colbert 1,132 74.04% 352 23.02% 44 2.88% 1 0.07% 780 51.01% 1,529 Conecuh 1,036 94.44% 42 3.83% 17 1.55% 2 0.18% 994 90.61% 1,097 Coosa 867 62.42% 485 34.92% 34 2.45% 3 0.22% 382 27.50% 1,389 Covington 1,738 79.94% 305 14.03% 107 4.92% 24 1.10% 1,433 65.92% 2,174 Crenshaw 1,427 90.43% 139 8.81% 5 0.32% 7 0.44% 1,288 81.62% 1,578 Cullman 1,396 50.52% 1,351 48.90% 9 0.33% 7 0.25% 45 1.63% 2,763 Dale 1,260 67.38% 597 31.93% 4 0.21% 9 0.48% 663 35.45% 1,870 Dallas 1,565 97.87% 23 1.44% 7 0.44% 4 0.25% 1,542 96.44% 1,599 DeKalb 1,787 59.09% 1,190 39.35% 33 1.09% 14 0.46% 597 19.74% 3,024 Elmore 1,631 99.57% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 7 0.43% 1,624 99.15% 1,638 Escambia 982 89.84% 108 9.88% 3 0.27% 0 0.00% 874 79.96% 1,093 Etowah 1,883 66.65% 862 30.51% 73 2.58% 7 0.25% 1,021 36.14% 2,825 Fayette 1,026 58.43% 697 39.69% 18 1.03% 15 0.85% 329 18.74% 1,756 Franklin 1,044 50.34% 984 47.44% 39 1.88% 7 0.34% 60 2.89% 2,074 Geneva 1,265 62.84% 713 35.42% 23 1.14% 12 0.60% 552 27.42% 2,013 Greene 383 97.70% 9 2.30% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 374 95.41% 392 Hale 795 97.79% 15 1.85% 1 0.12% 2 0.25% 780 95.94% 813 Henry 860 83.25% 141 13.65% 27 2.61% 5 0.48% 719 69.60% 1,033 Houston 1,670 76.05% 466 21.22% 46 2.09% 14 0.64% 1,204 54.83% 2,196 Jackson 1,907 75.61% 567 22.48% 32 1.27% 16 0.63% 1,340 53.13% 2,522 Jefferson 10,677 81.38% 2,052 15.64% 296 2.26% 95 0.72% 8,625 65.74% 13,120 Lamar 1,299 79.45% 303 18.53% 4 0.24% 29 1.77% 996 60.92% 1,635 Lauderdale 1,678 79.64% 369 17.51% 47 2.23% 13 0.62% 1,309 62.13% 2,107 Lawrence 995 85.92% 43 3.71% 4 0.35% 116 10.02% 879 75.91% 1,158 Lee 1,369 94.67% 42 2.90% 30 2.07% 5 0.35% 1,327 91.77% 1,446 Limestone 1,450 92.12% 92 5.84% 19 1.21% 13 0.83% 1,358 86.28% 1,574 Lowndes 540 98.00% 9 1.63% 1 0.18% 1 0.18% 531 96.37% 551 Macon 575 92.59% 43 6.92% 2 0.32% 1 0.16% 532 85.67% 621 Madison 2,206 89.17% 215 8.69% 45 1.82% 8 0.32% 1,991 80.48% 2,474 Marengo 1,491 98.61% 19 1.26% 1 0.07% 1 0.07% 1,472 97.35% 1,512 Marion 1,325 61.89% 807 37.69% 1 0.05% 8 0.37% 518 24.19% 2,141 Marshall 1,944 61.32% 1,183 37.32% 33 1.04% 10 0.32% 761 24.01% 3,170 Mobile 2,968 76.18% 832 21.36% 75 1.93% 21 0.54% 2,136 54.83% 3,896 Monroe 1,029 98.09% 17 1.62% 2 0.19% 1 0.10% 1,012 96.47% 1,049 Montgomery 3,316 96.06% 106 3.07% 19 0.55% 11 0.32% 3,210 92.99% 3,452 Morgan 2,120 82.62% 364 14.19% 44 1.71% 38 1.48% 1,756 68.43% 2,566 Perry 895 96.44% 20 2.16% 12 1.29% 1 0.11% 875 94.29% 928 Pickens 1,179 83.09% 218 15.36% 18 1.27% 4 0.28% 961 67.72% 1,419 Pike 1,789 96.39% 50 2.69% 11 0.59% 6 0.32% 1,739 93.70% 1,856 Randolph 1,324 66.70% 652 32.85% 4 0.20% 5 0.25% 672 33.85% 1,985 Russell 752 99.08% 3 0.40% 4 0.53% 0 0.00% 748 98.55% 759 St. Clair 987 51.97% 851 44.81% 53 2.79% 8 0.42% 136 7.16% 1,899 Shelby 1,311 47.57% 1,428 51.81% 8 0.29% 9 0.33% -117 -4.25% 2,756 Sumter 770 98.21% 8 1.02% 6 0.77% 0 0.00% 762 97.19% 784 Talladega 1,539 77.10% 447 22.39% 4 0.20% 6 0.30% 1,092 54.71% 1,996 Tallapoosa 1,892 91.98% 129 6.27% 33 1.60% 3 0.15% 1,763 85.71% 2,057 Tuscaloosa 2,437 89.99% 218 8.05% 41 1.51% 12 0.44% 2,219 81.94% 2,708 Walker 2,314 53.80% 1,860 43.25% 107 2.49% 20 0.47% 454 10.56% 4,301 Washington 500 92.94% 32 5.95% 2 0.37% 4 0.74% 468 86.99% 538 Wilcox 866 99.88% 1 0.12% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 865 99.77% 867 Winston 727 39.36% 1,107 59.94% 6 0.32% 7 0.38% -380 -20.57% 1,847Totals99,40976.04%28,66221.92%1,9161.47%7410.57%70,74754.12%130,728

See also United States presidential elections in Alabama

Notes

References