1960 United States presidential election in Hawaii

1960 United States presidential election in Hawaii

November 8, 1960 1964 →
Turnout	93.1%[1]
Nominee John F. Kennedy Richard Nixon Party Democratic Republican Home state Massachusetts California Running mate Lyndon B. Johnson Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 92,410 92,295 Percentage 50.03% 49.97%
County Results Kennedy   50–60% Nixon   50–60%
President before election Dwight Eisenhower Republican Elected President John F. Kennedy Democratic

Elections in Hawaii
Federal government U.S. President 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Presidential primaries Democratic 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2012 U.S. Senate 1959 1962 1964 1968 1970 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1990 1990 sp 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2014 sp 2016 2018 2022 2024 U.S. House of Representatives 1959 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1st sp 1988 1990 2nd sp 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2nd sp 2003 2nd sp 2004 2006 2008 2010 1st sp 2012 2014 2016 1st sp 2018 2020 2022
State government Gubernatorial elections 1959 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 State Senate elections 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 State House of Representatives elections 2012 2018 2020
Ballot measures 1998 Amendment 2
Honolulu Mayoral elections 2010 sp 2012 2016 2020
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The 1960 presidential election in Hawaii was held on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. This was the first presidential election in which Hawaii participated; the state had been admitted to the Union just over a year earlier. The islands favored Senator John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, by a narrow margin of 115 votes, or 0.06%, after a court-ordered recount overturned an initial result favoring Vice President Richard Nixon, a Republican. The result was considered an upset, as Nixon had been thought likely to win the state's electoral votes.^[1]

This was the last time Hawaii voted more Republican than the national average until 1972, when it voted 0.8% more Republican than the national average. This is also one of only two elections in which Hawaii's counties did not all back the same candidate, the other being 1980, where the winner of each county was of the opposite party as in 1960. Unlike in the 1960 election, Honolulu voting Republican in 1980 was not sufficient to single-handedly carry the state, while all three other counties voted for Jimmy Carter.^[2]

The election, and the subsequent recount, are notable for giving rise to the first occurrence of "dueling" electoral slates in American history since the 1887 enactment of the Electoral Count Act.^[3] During the 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida, Congresswoman Patsy Mink suggested that the election could serve as a potential precedent to extend Vice President Al Gore's challenge to the official results beyond the Electoral Count Act's "safe harbor" deadline, though this was ultimately not acted upon.^[4] During the attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, the election was cited as a potential precedent by supporters of President Donald Trump.^[5][6]

Recount[]

Early unofficial totals suggested that Kennedy had won the state by 92 votes. However, errors in the official tabulation sheets reversed this result, instead suggesting a 141-vote victory for Nixon. Democrats highlighted various apparent errors in the tabulation, including 34 precincts where the number of total votes cast in the precinct was smaller than the sum of Nixon's and Kennedy's vote totals, and other precincts where the number of total votes cast was much larger than the combined votes for Nixon and Kennedy.^[1]

On November 22, attorney Robert G. Dodge filed a recount petition on behalf of thirty members of the Hawaii Democratic Party in a Honolulu circuit court. Dodge did not allege any voter fraud, instead merely observing that the tabulation sheets were not consistent in various precincts. State Republican Party officials also considered supporting the recount petition, but were internally divided and eventually declined to join it. One elector on the Republican slate, O. P. Soares, opposed the recount petition. All three electors on the Republican slate were named as defendants, along with Republican Lieutenant Governor James Kealoha, who at the time was serving as acting governor of the state and would be required to sign any certificate of ascertainment. Attorney General Shiro Kashiwa also joined the suit to represent the state's interests.^[7][1][8]

Despite the apparent tabulation errors, Acting Governor Kealoha certified Nixon's 141-vote victory on November 28.^[9] Kealoha certified the result after two audits of the tabulation sheets by his office,^[10] and may have had no option other than to certify, as he lacked authority to inspect or retabulate the actual ballots cast.^[1]

Litigation was still ongoing on December 13, the safe harbor deadline for certification under the Electoral Count Act. As only the Republican slate had so far been certified by the state's governor, its votes would be the only ones eligible for safe harbor status. Republicans argued that the litigation should end, since even if the recount should result in a Kennedy victory, under the rules of the Electoral Count Act Congress was required to presume that the Republican electors were the validly appointed electors for Hawaii.^[8]

However, the following day, the presiding circuit court judge ordered a partial recount to begin. A limited retabulation showed Nixon's margin over Kennedy decreasing, and as more ballots were opened and retabulated on subsequent days, Nixon's lead shrank and eventually disappeared. By December 18, the partial recount showed Kennedy leading Nixon in the state by 55 votes.^[8]

The recount was thus still ongoing on December 19, the day specified in U.S. law for the casting of votes by the members of the Electoral College. As a consequence, both the officially certified Republican slate of electors (Gavien A. Bush, J. Howard Worrall, and O. P. Soares) and an "unofficial" Democratic slate of electors (Jennie K. Wilson, William H. Heen, and Delbert E. Metzger) convened in the ʻIolani Palace and cast competing electoral votes for Nixon and Kennedy just one minute apart.^[1][11] Certificates for both slates' electoral votes were sent to Franklin G. Floete, the Administrator of General Services.^[7]

Also on December 19, Jamieson ordered a complete statewide recount, which concluded on December 28 and showed a Kennedy victory by 115 votes.^[8] Based on this recount, Jamieson ordered that the Democratic slate of Wilson, Heen, and Metzger be named the validly appointed presidential electors for the state of Hawaii on December 30. Attorney General Kashiwa declined to appeal the verdict, and Governor William F. Quinn, a Republican, certified the Democratic slate of electors on January 4, 1961, in a letter to Administrator Floete.^[7][1] The state government also rushed a letter to Congress by air mail to indicate that a new certification was on its way.^[11]

During the Congressional joint session to tabulate electoral votes on January 6, 1961, Nixon (who presided over the session in his capacity as President of the Senate), presented both the Republican and Democratic electoral certificates. To head off the possibility of a floor objection by Democrats such as Representative Daniel K. Inouye,^[6] Nixon then requested and received unanimous consent from the joint session for the Democratic certificate to be counted and the Republican certificate to be set aside, though he specified that this was being done "without the intent of establishing a precedent".^[12][7]

References[]

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