^)8) METHODS FOR COUNTING IN PXIXTIONS. 



If at the end of this second count any continuing member 

 secures Hare's quota, he is not tinally. but only tenta- 

 tively, elected ; for some of the second choices which he 

 receives from an unsuccessful candidate may have come 

 from one who will be found, before the end of the 

 election, to be entitled to election ; in that case, these 

 second choices must be withdraAvn and recounted as first 

 choices for him, and this may leave the candidate to whom I hey 

 hnve been credited temporarily at this second count unelected. 



Hence, after the first count, no member is elected, no vote 

 is finally transferred, till the result sheet shows that the election 

 can be finished, and shows, too, who are the candidates who 

 can >^ecure election on the highest choices. Then, and not till 

 then, is any transfer of the vote made. As soon as 'the d'stri- 

 bution of all available second choices has been made, we must 

 look carefully at the result sheet, to see whether any candidate, 

 unsuccessful at the first count, could receive more first and 

 second choices than the low^est of the continuing members. If 

 this is the case, the former must replace the latter, and the 

 counting must be carried out from the distribution of the un- 

 successful candidate's second-choice votes with a new classi- 

 fication of continuing members and unsuccessful candidates. 



Only after this has been done can the third count of the 

 available third-choices be begun. If, at their distribution, or 

 at any later count, a displacement of a continuing member 

 occurs, the above proceeding must be followed out, and a new 

 result sheet of the distribution of all unsuccessful whole choices 

 made. 



It is only when this course is followed that the voter's 

 wishes, as they express them at the ])oll, are carried out to the 

 fullest possible extent. 



By the use of Mr. Pim's fifth rule and Hare's cfuota 

 we can secure the following results : — 



(a) We use the greatest ])0ssible mmilier of first and higher 



choices ; 



(b) We show at what grade of vote the election is over ; 



(c) We use no lower choices than are absolutely necessary; 

 {d) We elect the members most desired by all the voters; 



and 

 (e) We reduce the non-effective votes to a minimum. 



15. Recapitulation. — Droo]:)'s quota is advocated by Mr. 

 Humphreys; it is advocated by Mr. Pim; it is used in all the 

 authorised plans of counting ; it elects all our own Sena^tors and 

 all the members of all the Alunicipal Councils in the Transvaal. 

 This is my reason for recapitulating the facts I have found from 

 the examination of the results of its use in many actual elections. 



Where the votes to be counted are uniform, are of one 

 grade, where no votes can or need be transferred, it accurately 

 counts all the effective votes and elects the members most pre- 

 ferred by the voters. 



