The 1831 Vermont gubernatorial election took place in September and October, and resulted in the election of William A. Palmer to a one-year term as governor.[1]
The candidates for governor in 1831 were: Anti-Mason William A. Palmer; Heman Allen (of Colchester), the nominee of the Clay Masonic or National Republican Party; and Jacksonian Ezra Meech.[4] In the general election, the General Assembly determined that the results were: total votes, 33,976; Palmer, 15,258 (44.9%); Allen, 12,290 (36.2%); Meech, 6,158 (18.1%); scattering, 270 (0.8%).[1]
Because no candidate received a majority as required by the Vermont Constitution, the General Assembly was required to select.[1] With 227 members voting on the 9th ballot, 114 votes were necessary for a choice.[1] Palmer, who had consistently attained 110 or more votes on the previous eight ballots, received 114 votes.[1] Allen received 36, Meech 42, and incumbent governor Samuel C. Crafts, a National Republican, received 35.[1]
In the race for lieutenant governor, the total votes were 34,099.[1] Anti-Mason Lebbeus Egerton received 15,190 votes (44.5%), Jedediah Harris, a National Republican, received 12,736 (37.3%), Jacksonian John Roberts received 6,127 (18.0%), and 46 (0.2%) were recorded as scattering.[1] The General Assembly was required to choose and with 209 members voting on the first ballot, 105 votes were necessary for a choice.[1] Egerton was elected with 110 votes to 60 for Harris, 40 for Roberts, and 9 scattering.[1]
Benjamin Swan won election to a one-year term as treasurer, his thirty-second.[1] Though he had nominally been a Federalist, Swan was usually endorsed by the Democratic-Republicans and even after the demise of the Federalist Party he was frequently unopposed.[5] In 1831, he was the candidate of both the Jacksonians and the National Republicans and Augustine Clarke was the Anti-Masonic candidate.[4] The popular vote was reported as: total votes cast, 33,362; Swan, 19,118 (57.3%); Clarke, 14,204 (42.6%); scattering, 39 (0.1%).[1]
