Saturday, July 06, 2013

LCMS Presidential Elections

The announcement today of the reelection of the Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison to the presidency of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (http://blogs.lcms.org/2013/harrison-elected-to-second-term) got me thinking about presidential elections over the course of Missouri's "modern" history (1973 to present.  I use 1973 as the date, because in that year the LCMS changed its nomination procedure).  With the disclaimer that this is a first run through and I need to do some fact checking, here are the results showing the top two vote getters, without note or comment.


1973
1st ballot, JAO Preus 606, WIliam Kohn 340. 1,055 total votes.  57%

1977
2nd ballot, JAO Preus 596, Charles Mueller 330.  1,083 total votes.  55%

1981
4th ballot, Ralph Bohlmann 722, Charles Mueller 338.  1,110 total votes.  65%

1983
1st ballot, Ralph Bohlmann 844, Lloyd Behnken 95.  1,079 votes.  78%

1986
1st ballot, Ralph Bohlmann 576, Robert Sauer 447.  1,029 total votes. 56%

1989
1st ballot, Ralph Bohlmann 589, Robert Sauer 433.  1,124 total votes.  52%

1992
4th ballot, Alvin Barry 580, Ralph Bohlmann 568.  1,148 total votes.  50.5%

1995
1st ballot, Alvin Barry 754, Richard Kapfer 290.  1,162 total votes. 65%

1998
1st ballot, Alvin Barry 657, Glen O’Shoney 343.  1,161 total votes.  56%

2001
4th ballot, Gerald Kieschnick 600, Dean Wenthe 582.  1,182 total votes.  50.7%

2004
1st ballot, Gerald Kieschnick 653, Daniel Preus 391.  1,237 total votes.  53%

2007
1st ballot, Gerald Kieschnick 644, John Wohlrabe 514.  1,231 total votes.  52%

2010
1st ballot, Matthew Harrison 643, Gerald Kieschnick 527.  1,170 total votes.  55%

2013
1st ballot, Matthew Harrison 4,262, David Maier 1,906.  6,432 total votes.  66%