Recalling the village caucus
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
In the recent village election, the candidates registered themselves as candidates by means of petitions submitted to the village clerk. However, this was not always how interested village residents became candidates for a village election. For over a century after the Village of Granville's founding in 1885, the caucus was the way to nominate candidates for the annual village elections.
The caucus was held every year before a village election, usually in February or March. Any village resident eligible to vote was able to attend the caucus, but in practice normally only a small group of attendees would go. Candidates were nominated by an attendee for consideration. If only one candidate was nominated, then they would be the candidate for the position by default. If more than one candidate were nominated, the attendees would vote on which nominee would be the party candidate. In the rare case that a tie occurred, a second vote would be held, with the winner becoming the candidate. The candidate would have to then accept the nomination. If the candidate who was nominated or won the caucus vote was not present, someone at the meeting could accept the nomination on behalf of the candidate.
In some years, the caucus was a quiet meeting with little attendance, with candidates’ nominations being guaranteed. In other years, however, the caucus could get “heated”, with upwards of a hundred villagers going. Large attendance, combined with the small quarters of the village meeting room in the old village hall on North Street, rendered any well attended caucus standing room only.
Over its history, candidates chosen at the caucus almost always went on to be elected as the mayor or trustees of the Village of Granville. In the case of mayoral candidates, the caucus candidate won all but two times during the existence of the caucus.
The first upset was in 1931, when the caucus nominated E. Clifford Hewitt as the caucus candidate. Two others, Hugh G. Williams and William Quinn, both threw their hats to the ring with opposition petitions; Williams' was several-hundred strong.
Election day was March 17; the turnout, at 1,585, was larger than any village election held before or since. Williams won over Hewitt, 781 to 519. Williams' majority was so far ahead that if all 150 who voted for Quinn had cast votes for Hewitt, Hewitt still would have fell about 100 votes short of Williams.
The caucus took a new turn in 1932. A political party had been registered in the village of Granville, named the Citizen's Party. The party had no affiliation with any national political party, such as the Democratic Party or Republican Party. The caucus was not originally connected, whether legally or by association, with any political organization. However, the caucus generally became associated with the Citizen's Party afterwards, partly due to the lack of any other political parties becoming formally registered in the village.
1991 would bring about the second upset. Patricia Muller had run for mayor in 1989, was nominated by the party caucus, and won. Muller ran again at the caucus in 1991 and lost to Ernie Roberts. Incumbent trustees "Bud" Beebe and John Manchester also lost at the caucus. All three would run in the village election as the "Good Government Party". Muller's group would go on to win the election on March 19. Muller won with 345 votes to the 317 for caucus candidate Roberts.
The Citizen's Party last fielded candidates in 1992. It was disbanded soon after, as no election since then has had candidates from the party. The caucus disappeared from the village election scene as well around this time.
Today, village election candidates garner signatures and file the petitions. The Citizen's Party is gone, and the caucus system is a thing of the past. Party names are still used today in village elections, but the party names are chosen at will by the candidate or group of candidates and are not officially registered political parties as the Citizen's Party was before. The caucus, while once the way of doing things, would now be considered an obstacle to running in a village election.
Note: there was another caucus upset, in 1947. This was not found until over a year after the article was published.
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