Benton County Votes in the 1924 Election
Voters of White Bluffs and Benton County decide local and national races as the Republican ticket sweeps the state.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The American quadrennial classic concluded Tuesday. Nationally, Calvin Coolidge carried the presidency by an overwhelming margin. In Washington state, Col. R. H. Hartley, the Republican candidate for governor, won by approximately 80,000 votes. Locally, there was significant interest in the commissionership race between Prior and Allard. While Allard had supporters on the east side of the county, the west side, including the town of Prosser and rural precincts, handed Prior large majorities. In White Bluffs, 271 ballots were cast, and the board did not finish counting until 7:30 Wednesday morning due to the complexity of initiative and referendum measures.
“There is not much comfort in nursing disappointments and the sooner we adjust ourselves to the will of the majority, the better for our peace of mind.”
This detailed precinct-level tally captures the civic climate of 1924, a year where rural voters held significant sway in local land and tax disputes. Today, White Bluffs is a ghost town submerged under the legacy of the Hanford Site, making this record of local political participation a testament to a community that no longer exists.
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