The governor of Ala. is responsible for making appointments to various state and local offices and for signing grants and commissions. This series consists of correspondence relating to appointments, resignations, commissions and contested elections. This series has been divided into two subseries, one consisting of half of the series, which pertains to the 1877 election of a judge of probate for Dallas County, Ala. The second subseries is a miscellaneous appointments file. This series contains letters and petitions relating to what seems to be one of the few contested elections during Houston's administration. The letters discuss the endorsement of one candidate over the other. The two candidates that were vying for the office of probate judge were P.G. Wood and Moody H. May. Also included is a description of the number of eligible voters in Dallas County: only 1500 were permitted to vote but a total of 1900 signed the candidates' petitions. In addition, this subseries includes copies of the minutes of the Democratic Executive Committee of Dallas County, which nominated Moody H. May. Also included is a petition from the city of Selma, endorsing May. The endorsers of P.G. Wood signed petitions, which state at the top of each form "We do not believe that the action of a quorum of the Democratic Executive Committee recommending Mr. May to that office, records with the wishes of the white people of Dallas." The rest of this series consists of appointments by the governor and resignations by public officials.
