Alternate History USA Elections 1876-Future

This is my first official timeline,I will only do short summaries for each presidents term,I will be using President Infinity for the General Elections ONLY I will write the results of the primaries.
-Primaries won't be conventions and delegates,there will be one nation wide vote a national "Primary Day"
Somebody must win over 50% to win the nomination (two-round)
I wanted to start post Lincoln just to do it
-and the way of voting will be POPULAR VOTE. For General election it just has to be a majority of the vote.
Also for General Elections only I will be using the election sim "president infinity"

As suggested by @Mikestone8 I closed my 1868 Lincoln lives thread,to avoid all the reconstruction issues,and I agreed this is a better start date.
 
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1876 Republican Primaries
Republican Primaries Primary day:
After Pres. Grant declined to run for a third term the Republican Primaries are contested,heavily.
Candidates
-OH. Gov Rutherford B. Hayes
-ME Sen. James G. Blaine
-Sec. Benjamin Bristow
-IN Sen. Oliver P. Morton
-NY Sen. Roscoe Conkling
-Sec. Marshall Jewel

The Primaries were hard fought,With Hayes having most of his support in the Midwest,Conkling in the North,and Morton in the South,and Blaine in New England,the rest of the candidates were scarce throughout with there supporters. It is believed that a two round vote is inevitable but the question is who will the two be?

1st Round Results:
(1):NY Sen. Roscoe Conkling-21.3%
(2)ME Sen. James G. Blaine-19.4%
(3)OH Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes-18.1%
(4)IN Sen. Oliver P. Morton-18%
(5)Sec. Benjamin Bristow-16.4%
(6)Sec. Marshall Jewell-6.8%
Capture.PNG


MAP: (I know states are on there that haven't been discovered yet cut me some slack) Hayes-Red,Blaine-Blue,Bristow-Yellow,Morton-Orange,Conkling-Green

After the first round results came in,there was a shock as Hayes was widely expected to be the first place vote getter,but he was in third. Hayes suffered a scandal leading up to the primary day that he accepted campaign funds from a Foreign source. This ended up being false,but costed Hayes the chance to move onto the second round. He was expected to receive around 25% of the vote. Conkling and Blaine both thanked there supporters. Conkling gave a fiery speech saying that he is the only way to defeat the Democrats,saying that if Blaine was elected it would be "disastrous". Blaine called his words "The words of someone who is frightened" Blaine took a much more laid back,peaceful approach. Conkling is expected to have the power,and money to defeat Blaine.

2nd Round results:
(1)(W):NY Sen. Roscoe Conkling-67.4%
(2)(L):ME Sen. James G. Blaine-32.6%
Capture.PNG

MAP:blue=Blaine,green=Conkling

Blaine condemned Conkling for receiving all his money from big banks and special interests and called Conkling "a corrupt full". Conkling thanked his supporters.

Conkling selects Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes as his VP.
Republican Ticket:NY Sen. Roscoe Conkling/OH Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes

 
Why does Blaine do so badly? He was popular, and OTL led handsomely on the first Convention ballot. If that is a reasonable reflection of his support in the country at large, I'd have expected him to wrap it up.

Was Conkling particularly popular outside NY?

OTL, Tilden led from the start at the Democratic Convention, so I take it he's the favourite. If the popular vote is similar to OTL, then of course he wins in November.

Looking further ahead. In 1880, General Hancock and Senator Bayard of Delaware were close together at OTL's convention, and ahead of the rest of the pack. So the national primary could be close.

The Republican side is harder to call. OTL, General Grant stayed abroad until quite late, and his backers collected convention delegates in his absence. In a national primary system, that obviously ain't possible, so if he really wants it he has to come back and enter the primary contest. If so, he probably wins that, and could eke out a narrow victory in November if Southern Blacks and Whites vote in the same numbers as OTL. If, however, the Black vote is suppressed more severely than OTL, and/or Southern Whites turn out in larger numbers (which under this electoral system they have a strong incentive to do) then the Dems probably win.

Thoughts anyone?
 
Conkling would never win the nomination. He had to many enemies within the party and was only popular in New York because he controlled all of their votes. And even then he would never choose Hayes as his running mate as he actively tried to bring him down during his Presidency and campaign.
 
Can we back up here and discuss how the switch to primaries happens TTL? OTL primaries weren't determining election results until the 1970s or so and it wasn't until 1900/10 that they even existed. Most of the early primaries were also nonbinding and didn't determine delegates, although some did.
 
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Conkling would never win the nomination. He had to many enemies within the party and was only popular in New York because he controlled all of their votes. And even then he would never choose Hayes as his running mate as he actively tried to bring him down during his Presidency and campaign.
Conkling was corrupt,and powerful. The southern votes weren't all that high,at all,but having New York as his stronghold pulled him through for the nomination greatly,Blaine though popular,was easily attacked against Conkling,and Conklings "harshness" pulled Southern votes through (Think Trump OTL). Conkling had enough funds,and overreaching power to win some states heavily (the most populous) as I continue these will become more fleshed out,it is my first timeline after all.
 
Can we back up here and discuss how the switch to primaries happens TTL? OTL primaries weren't determining election results until the 1970s or so and it wasn't until 1900/10 that they even existed. Most of the early primaries were also nonbinding and didn't determine delegates, although some did.
Just a radical,overreaching bill called "The people voice Act"-which has done exactly as this timeline is going off of. I know it might not be "completely historically possible" But it's just an idea I'm testing,This is kinda just my first thread,and I'm eventually going to do a more fleshed out thread (starting in the beginning of the USA) Using these systems.
 
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Was Conkling particularly popular outside NY?

OTL, Tilden led from the start at the Democratic Convention, so I take it he's the favourite. If the popular vote is similar to OTL, then of course he wins in November.

Looking further ahead. In 1880, General Hancock and Senator Bayard of Delaware were close together at OTL's convention, and ahead of the rest of the pack. So the national primary could be close.

The Republican side is harder to call. OTL, General Grant stayed abroad until quite late, and his backers collected convention delegates in his absence. In a national primary system, that obviously ain't possible, so if he really wants it he has to come back and enter the primary contest. If so, he probably wins that, and could eke out a narrow victory in November if Southern Blacks and Whites vote in the same numbers as OTL. If, however, the Black vote is suppressed more severely than OTL, and/or Southern Whites turn out in larger numbers (which under this electoral system they have a strong incentive to do) then the Dems probably win.

Thoughts anyone?[/QUOTE]

Tilden is not running,instead Horatio Seymour is running AGAIN with Tilden's full support.
 
Can we back up here and discuss how the switch to primaries happens TTL? OTL primaries weren't determining election results until the 1970s or so and it wasn't until 1900/10 that they even existed. Most of the early primaries were also nonbinding and didn't determine delegates, although some did.

OTOH, we are on a TL where the POTUS is elected by direct popular vote - an idea floated at least as far back as Jackson's day. Had this been adopted for elections, isn't it at least conceivable that it might get adopted for nominations as well? Unlikely, I agree, but not ASB.

After all, the nominating convention had been standard practice only since the 1830s - not exactly time immemorial. In the 1870s there would still have been many Americans living who could remember when they first came in. How many, then, would have guessed that they would still be normal practice in the 2010s?
 
This is my first official timeline,I will only do short summaries for each presidents term,I will be using President Infinity for the General Elections ONLY I will write the results of the primaries.
-Primaries won't be conventions and delegates,there will be one nation wide vote a national "Primary Day"
Somebody must win over 50% to win the nomination (two-round)
I wanted to start post Lincoln just to do it
-and the way of voting will be POPULAR VOTE. For General election it just has to be a majority of the vote.
Also for General Elections only I will be using the election sim "president infinity"

As suggested by @Mikestone8 I closed my 1868 Lincoln lives thread,to avoid all the reconstruction issues,and I agreed this is a better start date.

As others have noted, this is a very radical departure from the electoral system specified in the Constitution. For it to be in force in 1876 would require a very radical constitutional amendment. How and when did this amendment pass? I would further note that "national party primaries" would be an even greater departure, and one that no one in the OTL 1800s would have considered practical or desirable or even legal.
 
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