The election of Officers was a practise of primarily of State Militia and State Troops units. That practise pretty much went away after the first the first year of the war with the reorganization of the army in 1862, as some of those officer proven to be very ineffective.

Worst than the election of Officers by the men was the appointment of Officers because of their Political connections who where not qualified but had somebody in high office that could pull a string for them. At least the election of officers by the men, while somewhat of a popularity contest, did come from the men who had to serve under that Officer. And the Officers was from that community of group of men. Therefore they knew the men and the men knew their Officers and generally respected them. And actually that is a major part of real leadership is to gain the trust and respect of your men. One of the shining example of the good elected Officer was Gen. Patrick Cleburne who went from enlisting as a private to becoming a Maj.-General. Another was Donelson McGregor of the 1st Arkansas, and Col. John E. Murray of the 5th Arkansas Infantry.

So while much malined the election of Officers in the early Militia and State troops unit were not all bad. The Politically appointed Officers as a class were much worst in my opinion and where ususally much harder to get rid of because of their political connections. I am not sure that political connections in some of our military Officers has ceased to be a factor in our army even today.