ILLINOIS. 



l-'j 



the election of members to the State Legisla- 

 ture. (Sue u Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1871, 

 page 678.) The State is divided into lii'ty 

 -untative districts, and each elects three 

 members of the Lower House of the Legisla- 

 turo, thu* making the total number 153. Each 

 voter has three votes for Assemblymen, and 

 can oast them for whomsoever he pleases, or 

 c:iu divide them up into fractions of not less 

 than one half and distribute them among the 

 candidates; or can cast one vote only in whole 

 or in halves, two votes only in wholes or in 

 halves, or not vote at all. The working of the 

 system will be illustrated by comparing the 

 votes for Secretary of State and for Assembly- 

 men in several districts. 



In the llth district the relative strength of 

 the three parties, and the aggregate number of 

 voters, are shown by the return for Secretary of 

 State at the election in November, 1878, as fol- 

 lows: 



Republican majority over all, 753. The vote 

 for members of the House was as follows: 



Two Republicans and one National were 

 elected, the latter representing the stronger 

 minority. One Republican received more votes 

 than the other, for various reasons. The whole 

 number of Republican votes was 11,715; of 

 National votes, 5,829; of Democratic votes, 

 3,850. Dividing these aggregates by three will 

 give, approximately, the number of voters of 

 each party, viz. : Republican, 3,905 ; National, 

 1,609 and 2 votes over ; Democratic, 1,283 and 

 1 vote over ; an aggregate of 6,798, which was 

 377 votes less than the number cast for Secre- 

 tary of State. 



The 13th district is composed of the counties 

 of De Kalb, Kendall, and Grundy, and gave for 

 Secretary of State the following vote : 



Whole number of votes 8,989 



The number of candidates for the Legislature 

 was tiie same as in the llth district, and the 

 votes were as follows : 



The result was the election of the two Repub- 

 licans and one National as before, although the 

 change of the Nationals of Grundy to Clover, 

 the Democrat, nearly secured his election. 



The 16th district, composed of Kankakee and 

 Iroquois Counties, gave the following vote for 

 Secretary of State : 



The vote for members of the House was as 

 follows in the district: Buck, Rep., 6,241$; 

 Secrest, Rep., 5,808J; Taylor, Dem., 4,313; 

 Peters, Nat., 7,955. Two Republicans and one 

 National were elected. By dividing the aggre- 

 gate vote of each party by three, it will be ob- 

 served that each party cast about the same 

 proportionate vote for members of the House 

 as for Secretary of State. 



The 17th district is composed of La Salle 

 County, and gave the following vote for Secre- 

 tary of State: Republican, 4,357; Democratic, 

 2,617; National, 2,637. The National vote 

 was only 20 in excess of the Democratic, but 

 the Democrats had two candidates and the 

 Nationals one. The result was as follows : 

 Crooker, Rep., 6,799; Bowen, Rep., 6,118; 

 Armstrong, Dem., 4,234; Miller, Dem., 3,732$; 

 Richey, Nat., 7,532*. The two Republicans 

 and the National were elected. 



The vote for Secretary of State in the 36th 

 district was as follows : 



The candidates and vote for members of the 

 House were a* follows: Wheeler, Rep., 8.876; 

 Snyder, Dem., 7,623 ; Masters, Dem., 6,446J ; 

 Savage, Nat., 7,9144. The result was that one 

 of each party was elected. 



In the 46th district the vote for Secretary of 

 State was as follows : 



