Since about 1852 the official returns for elections for governor,
lieutenant governor, and attorney general (usually) were reported early
in the Journal of the House of Delegates for the first session after the
election.

From the middle of the nineteenth century until the middle of the
twentieth century, official election returns for statewide elections,
congressional and senatorial elections, presidential elections, and
House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia elections were compiled in the
office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The archives at the Library
of Virginia preserves those records (there is an almost complete set),
which were individually bound for each election. Many of the volumes are
large and fragile, and perhaps as a consequence none has been
microfilmed.

Since the middle of the twentieth century (I do not recall the precise
date) official election returns have been compiled by the State Board of
Elections. Some of its records are in the archives in the Library of
Virginia and some may still be in the custody of the board.

During the antebellum period, the Richmond Enquirer alone of the state's
newspapers attempted to publish election returns, but it often received
incomplete returns, and what is published there is not official. Between
the Civil War and the beginning of the twentieth century, the Richmond
Dispatch (sometimes entitled the Daily Richmond Dispatch or the Richmond
Daily Dispatch) tried to do the same thing, with similar useful but
incomplete and unofficial results. During the twentieth century the
Richmond Times-Dispatch did a better job than most (or any) other
newspaper in reporting results, but for legislative elections hometown
newspapers may provide more details.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brian McKnight
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 4:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Election Information

Colleagues,



Can anyone point me toward a collection of state election returns?  I am
mainly looking for the results of gubernatorial, lieutenant governors,
and General Assembly races, with vote tallies.



Thanks in advance for your help.



Brian D. McKnight

Department of History and Philosophy

The University of Virginia's College at Wise




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