Proportional Representation. 



37 



Form of Ballot Paper. 



(2.) In the course of the election a number of votes are 

 generally wasted unnecessarily. 



(3.) At the end of the election candidates are returned on 

 fewer votes than those required for the return of candidates 

 who are elected at an earlier stage of the election. 



The object of this paper is to examine some of these points, 

 and to give a process, from which the element of chance is 

 completely eliminated, by which no votes are wasted 

 unnecessarily, and by which all the representatives are 

 returned on as equal terms as possible. 



In the system of representation proposed more than 

 twenty years ago by Mr. Hare each elector has one vote 

 only. But, in order to guard against waste of voting power, 

 each elector is permitted to indicate other candidates in 

 successive order for whom he would be willing to vote in 

 case his vote is not required for the candidate of his first 

 choice. Thus, each elector is furnished with a ballot-paper 

 containing the names of the candidates in alphabetical 

 order, and the elector places the figure 1 opposite the can- 

 didate of his first choice, i.e., the 

 candidate for whom he wishes to 

 vote. He is also permitted to 

 place the figures 2, 3, 4, &c, 

 opposite the names of other 

 candidates, for whom in their suc- 

 cessive order he would be willing 

 to vote in case his vote is not 

 required for the candidate of his 

 first, second, third, &c, choice. 

 It is better to use this form of 

 ballot-paper than to require the 

 electors to write down in suc- 

 cessive order the names of the 

 candidates they are willing to 

 vote for. Further, it is not wise 

 to place any limit upon the 

 number of names which may be indicated ; any such restric- 

 tion would be a direct inducement to party organisation. 

 When the voting is over, the first thing to be done is to 

 ascertain the number of votes cast for each candidate, 

 counting only the names marked with the figure 1, and 

 thence the total number of votes cast. The papers polled 

 for the several candidates are placed in separate heaps and 

 the heaps arranged in order, placing first those containing 



Order of 



Names of 



Preference. 



Candidates. 



i 



A 



2 



B 





C 



3 



D 



1 



E 



1 



F 



