Changes

In a large general election turnout in 1976, Griffith lost each of the seventy-five counties, having polled 121,716 votes (16.7 percent), more than the 3 percent minimum required for a Republican candidate to qualify automatically for the 1978 ballot.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302194106/http://arkansasnews.com/2010/02/27/jim-keet-returns-for-governor|author=John Brummett|title= "Jim Keet returns . . . for governor?|date=February 27, 2010|publisher=Arkansasnews.com|accessdate=May 12, 2010}}</ref> Pryor prevailed with 605,083 votes (83.2 percent).  

In a large general election turnout in 1976, Griffith lost each of the seventy-five counties, having polled 121,716 votes (16.7 percent), more than the 3 percent minimum required for a Republican candidate to qualify automatically for the 1978 ballot.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302194106/http://arkansasnews.com/2010/02/27/jim-keet-returns-for-governor|author=John Brummett|title= "Jim Keet returns . . . for governor?|date=February 27, 2010|publisher=Arkansasnews.com|accessdate=May 12, 2010}}</ref> Pryor prevailed with 605,083 votes (83.2 percent).  

Griffith's showing was the worst for an Arkansas Republican since Jefferson W. Speck, a young planter from Mississippi County in eastern Arkansas, polled only 12.6 percent in the 1952 race against Democrat Francis Cherry, Faubus' predecessor as governor.<ref name="ReferenceA">State of Arkansas, 1976 general election returns.</ref><ref>Robert A. Diamond, ed., ''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'', Washington, D.C., 1975, p. 399.</ref> President Ford received more than twice the votes polled in Arkansas by Griffith. He carried three counties and finished with 267,903 ballots (35 percent) to former [[Georgia]] Governor [[Jimmy Carter]]'s 498,604 ballots (65 percent).<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Griffith's showing was the worst for an Arkansas Republican since [[Jefferson W. Spec]], then a young planter from Mississippi County in eastern Arkansas, polled only 12.6 percent in the 1952 race against Democrat Francis Cherry, Faubus' predecessor as governor.<ref name="ReferenceA">State of Arkansas, 1976 general election returns.</ref><ref>Robert A. Diamond, ed., ''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'', Washington, D.C., 1975, p. 399.</ref> President Ford received more than twice the votes polled in Arkansas by Griffith. He carried three counties and finished with 267,903 ballots (35 percent) to former [[Georgia]] Governor [[Jimmy Carter]]'s 498,604 ballots (65 percent).<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

At the time of his death at the age of seventy-four, Griffith was residing in Hensley in Pulaski County. He was survived by four daughters, Sherrie Carlon of Fayetteville, Arkansas;  Toni Griffith and Tammie Griffith, both of Roseburg,  [[Oregon]], and Deborah Jennings of Hensley, and a sister, Dorothy Herrod of Pine Bluff.<ref name=obit/>

At the time of his death at the age of seventy-four, Griffith was residing in Hensley in Pulaski County. He was survived by four daughters, Sherrie Carlon of Fayetteville, Arkansas;  Toni Griffith and Tammie Griffith, both of Roseburg,  [[Oregon]], and Deborah Jennings of Hensley, and a sister, Dorothy Herrod of Pine Bluff.<ref name=obit/>