4.4 When did the ballots actually take place?
Using the ballot number as a measure of time is an approximation of what actually happened. The first ballot took place on the morning of Friday, 28 June, and the last ballot took place on the afternoon of Tuesday, 2 July. The official report of the convention (Woodson (1912)) does not record when exactly ballots were taken, but does record to the minute when the convention was adjourned and when it restarted. Making the assumption that each ballot took about the same time, and adding extra time for special polling of individual states and speeches, gives Figure 4.7.
Figure 4.7: Convention voting using estimated ballot times with the date labels at midday and adjournment periods shaded grey
This picture makes a different impression. Instead of a string of equally spaced events, there are bunches of ballots, separated by a number of breaks in the proceedings, especially that from midnight on the Saturday to 11am on the Monday. There were no official meetings on the Sunday. The crucial breakthrough for Wilson took place after the overnight break between Monday and Tuesday. Discussions must have been taking place all through the convention. Sometimes more than one plot is necessary to get the full picture.
Answers Many ballots took place without any change in support for the various candidates. There were up to six critical points that determined the result.
Further questions Which states voted as one during the convention? In which other years were there many ballots to select a candidate?