60 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION, 



R.S. TAS. 



Appendix 2. 



The Electoral Act, 1896. 



Bibliography ^ Clause 102. Every election under this Act shall be conducted 



No. 2. in the manner following : — 



• * * * * * * « 



3. In every case in which more than one candidate is to 

 be elected for any district, each elector shall have one 

 vote only, but may vote in the alternative for as many 

 candidates as he pleases, provided he votes for not 

 less than one-half of the number of members to be 

 elected ; and his vote shall be deemed to be given 

 in the first place for the candidate opposite whose 

 name upon the ballot-paper is placed the figure 1 ; 

 but in the event of its not being required to be used 

 for the return of such candidate, it may be trans- 

 ferred to the other candidates in succession, in the 

 order of priority indicated by the figures set opposite 

 their respective names ; and the elector shall insert 

 opposite to the names of the candidates for whom 

 he wishes to vote, the figures 1, 2, 3, and so on, in 

 the order of his preference. He shall not strike out 

 from the ballot-paper the name of any candidate. 



Ascertaining the Poll. 



Clause 115. In every case in which more than one candi- 

 date is to be elected for any district, the returning officer shall 

 deal with the ballot-papers as follows : — 



I. He shall first arrange the ballot-papers by placing 

 in a separate parcel all those which have the fig- 

 ure 1 set opposite to the name of the same candi- 

 date, and in so doing he shall reject all ballot- 

 papers which have not the official signatures or 

 stamps on the back thereof, or which have anything 

 written or marked thereon by which the voter can 

 be identified, and all ballot-papers on which no 

 number has been placed by the voter to indicate 

 the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, and all 

 ballot-papers on which the same number has been 

 placed against more names than one ; and all 

 ballot-papers whereon the number of candidates 

 marked in the order of the voters' preference is 

 fewer than one-half the number of members to be 

 elected. 



II. He shall then proceed to ascertain the "quota" of 

 votes necessary for the election of a candidate by 

 dividing the aggregate number of all the ballot- 

 papers contained in all the parcels by the number 

 of members to be elected, and the result, disregard- 

 ing any fractional remainder, shall be the " quota." 



III. He shall then proceed to count the number of ballot- 

 papers in each parcel, and every candidate who has 

 a number of first votes equal to or greater than 

 the quota shall be declared elected, and every 



