292 TRANSFERABLE VOTE AT MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. 



showed a great waste of votes, for there one hundred more than 

 double the effective votes were wasted; but the failure in secur- 

 ing representation, which is the more serious matter, is much 

 worse in our supposed case, as nearly twice as many members 

 fail to secure representation ; 27 voters fail, while 14 get it. 

 Besides these tzvo striking drawbacks there are others. 



13. (3rd.) Where only two candidates contest the seat, the 

 choice of the voters is very limited. Many voters would prefer 

 some other representative, and in truth merely express their 

 opinion as to which candidate is the more objectionable to them; 

 while, as we have seen, increase in the number of candidates 

 adds both to the poverty of representation and the number of 

 wanted votes — under the present system of election. 



14. (4th.) With only two candidates, a great opportunity 

 is given to the so-called faddists. These are voters with whom 

 some special question holds a very much more important place 

 than it does with the majority of other voters. It might be, 

 as it was in Edinburgh, the question of the running of Municipal 

 trams on Sundays. Say three among our 51 electors waited on 

 the two candidates in turn, and said here are three votes, counting 

 for and against as six in this election ; if you promise to vote 

 against the Sunday running of the trams, you will get them ; if 

 you do not. they will be given against you. 



15. (5th.) Where two candidates contest a seat, the ten- 

 dency to the development of feelings of personal antagonism 

 among the supporters on each side, even if not in the case of 

 the candidates themselves, is very apt to become strong, and to 

 cause ill-feeling, it may be for long after the election is over. 



16. (6th.) The smallness of the electoral area for the elec- 

 tion of one member tends to give undue prominence to what are 

 trivial local matters, and may give rise to log-rolling and the 

 exchanges of mutual support in the Council itself. 



17. These six faults, inherent in small single-member con- 

 stituencies, arise to a great extent from the fact that one vacancy 

 has to be filled by the voters in one small constituency, and that 

 in almost every case not more than two candidates come forward. 



Hence follows failure to secure representation, great waste 

 of votes, limitation of choice of candidates, the opportunity 

 for faddists to sell their votes for specious promises, personal 

 antagonisms, and the undue prominence of local demands; and 

 three other serious drawbacks have to be added. 



18. (7th.) When there are only two candidates, or the 

 contest lies between two, all votes get a fictitious value. They 

 are worth two in the counting, because they are one vote lost to 

 the opponent and one gained far the man who gets it, and hence 

 comes the great importance of canvassing, and keen competition, 

 and the bringing to the poll of hosts of voters who would not 

 otherwise take the trouble of voting; and the determination of 

 which candidate shall win by the number of the more ignorant 

 and apathetic voters that his purse and his friends' efforts can 



