October is Archives Month, when archives around the country celebrate the records in their holdings and recognize the archivists who collect, organize, preserve, and provide access to information of lasting value. The North Dakota State Archives is part of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
When North Dakota became a state in 1889, its citizens gained a new privilege: the right to vote for president. Their first opportunity came in 1892, when Republican President Benjamin Harrison again faced Democrat Grover Cleveland.
But there was a problem. Questions arose over how the election would work under the new state constitution, which lacked provisions necessary for selecting presidential electors. A special legislative session was held, in part, to clear this up. The North Dakota State Archives holds the legislative journals documenting what happened.
The session was debated, partly because of its cost. A petition sent to Fargo Senator Pinkham protested the gathering, saying it had been called “for the purpose of remedying what is claimed by some and denied by others, to be defects in our electoral provisions.”
But the Richland County Gazette argued, “No one is anxious to have a special session of the legislature for the mere sake of having one. But it is probable that almost every voter would rather have an extra session than to lose his vote in the presidential election.”
After just three days, a fix had been made, and North Dakotans were able to cast their three Electoral College votes.
And North Dakota did something unusual with them.
While neighboring Montana, South Dakota, and Washington gave their electoral votes to Harrison, North Dakota split its three votes evenly: one for Harrison, one for Cleveland, and one for Populist candidate James B. Weaver.
Cleveland won the election, becoming the first president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
And North Dakota’s first presidential election became part of the historical record preserved today in the State Archives.
Dakota Datebook by Sarah Walker
Sources:
- https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1892
- Bismarck Weekly Tribune, October 14, 1892, p4
- Jamestown Weekly Alert, May 12, 1892, p1
- Bismarck Weekly Tribune, Friday, February 24, 1888, p4
- Oakes Weekly Republican, March 8, 1889, p7
- Bismarck Weekly Tribune, July 8, 1892, p2
- Devils Lake Inter-Ocean, March 2, 1889, p2
- https://news.prairiepublic.org/show/dakota-datebook-archive/2022-06-02/statehood-at-last
- https://news.prairiepublic.org/podcast/dakota-datebook/2024-06-07/june-7-special-sessions
- https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/154/
- https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1892
- Bismarck Weekly Tribune, June 3, 1892, p4 (report from Richland Co Gazette)
- Senate Journal 1892 Special Session
- House Journal 1892 Special Session
