THE BOA CONSTRICTOR OF POLITICS. 157 



This plan is sometimes called too difficult, but Mr. Mill declared 

 that it is as eas}^ as the multiplication table. The voting is easy 

 enough. Miss Garrett's friends would have deposited ballots on 

 which her name was marked, '"First choice," while those candi- 

 dates wouli be named as second or third choice, etc., to whom that 

 vote should be transferred if not needed for her election. The votes 

 are first counted so as to show the full number, which divided by 

 the number of candidates to be elected, gives the quota required 

 for the election. Then the ballots are recounted for the first choice. 

 As soon as Miss Garrett had reached her quota, her name would 

 have been cancelled on all the other ballots of her friends, and these 

 votes would be counted for the second choice, and if that candidate 

 also gained the quota, for the third. The same process being applied 

 to all the ballots, it would have happened in this case as in most 

 others, that there would be a vacancy or two- left to be filled from 

 among candidates, none of whom had the quota. Mr. Hare's last 

 decision seems to be, that in such cases the name having least votes 

 be cancelled, and these ballots redistributed until the quota is reach- 

 ed. Other authorities are in favor of giving the preference in such 

 cases to the plurality, or of getting a smaller quota by methods, of 

 which it is enought to say that they would much prolong the labor 

 of counting the votes, a task already so difficult as to give great 

 opportunity for fraud. 



Indeed there is one case in Avhich dishonesty would be peculiarly 

 ea3\' and justice almost impossible. 



Suppose these Illinois Democrats and Liberals, who elected one 

 representative when they might have got two, had used Hare's 

 plan, and all of them made Brown their first choice, while, for the 

 second choice, the ballots were divided between Jones and Robin- 

 son. Now if Jones' votes were counted first, Brown would be 

 elected and his name cancelled on all other ballots, which would 

 thus elect Robinson also, whereas if the Robinson ballots were 

 counted first the choice would be Brown and Jones. Either Jones 

 or Robinson coull secure the seat by persuading the inspectors of 

 the votes to shuffle them, so that his name would be counted last 

 while if these officers were too honest for this, their decision would 

 be merely a matter of chance, and either chance or fraud might 

 elect Jones, when he had less than half as many votes as Robinson. 

 The Hare plan should not therefore be adopted, if we can find any 



