election 
election (e-lek'shon), n. [< ME. election, elec- 
cioun, < OF. election, F. flection = Pr. (lectio = 
Sp. election = Pg. eleic&o = It. elczione, < L. efec- 
tio(n-), a choosing, < eligere, pp. electus, pick 
out, choose, elect : see e/ec.] 1. A deliberate 
act of choice ; particularly, a choice of means 
for accomplishing a given end. 
Nor headlong carried by the stream of will, 
Nor by his owu election led to ill. 
Daniel, Civil Ware, iv. 
For what is Man without a mooving mind, 
Which hath a judging wit and chusing will? 
Now if God's power should her election bind, 
Her motions then would cease and stand all still. 
Sir J. Dailies, Nosce Teipsum. 
I had thought you 
Had had more judgment to have made election 
Of your companions. 
B. Jonson, Every Man lu his Humour, 1. 1. 
The freedom of election a freedom which is indispen- 
sable to all moral value, whether in doing or in suffering, 
In believing or denying. De Quincey, Essenes, i. 
2. The choice of a person or persons for office 
of any kind by the voting of a body of quali- 
fied or authorized electors. The persons voted for 
are called candidates, or, with reference to their selection 
as candidates, nominees. Election for public office is now 
almost universally effected by the use of printed ballots. 
(See ballot*.) The decision may depend upon the cast- 
ing of an actual majority of all the votes for a candidate, 
as in various European countries and in some of the 
United States, or upon a plurality or the largest number 
of votes for any candidate where there are more than two 
opposing candidates, as in most of the United States. In 
the former case a new election has to be held when there 
is no actual majority ; in the latter a single balloting is 
flnal unless there is a tie, which is very rare. 
And alweys thei maken here Queen by Eleccioun, that is 
most worthy in Armes. Mandeville, Travels, p. 155. 
The election of a President of America, some years hence, 
will be much more interesting to certain nations of Europe 
than ever the election of a king of Poland was. 
Jefferson, Correspondence, II. 275. 
3. The act or process of choosing a person or 
persons for office by vote ; a polling for office ; 
also, the occasion or set time and provision for 
making such choice : as, a general or a special 
election ; American elections are generally held 
in autumn. 
Election, in a political sense, was formerly limited to 
"the act of choosing a person to fill an office or employ- 
ment." The new sense ... is a voting at the polls to 
ratify or reject a proposed measure. 
Prof. F. P. Brewer, in Trans. Amer. Philol. Ass., 
[XVII., App., p. vii. 
Hence 4. By extension, a public vote upon a 
proposition submitted ; a poll for the decision 
by vote of any public matter or question : as, 
to hold an election on a new constitution, or on 
a measure referred by the legislature to the 
people. [U.S.] 5f. Discernment; discrimi- 
nation; distinction. 
To use men with much difference and election is good. 
Bacon. 
6. In theol. : (a) The choice by God of partic- 
ular individuals either (1) to be the recipients 
of his grace and of eternal life, or (2) to bo 
commissioned for a particular work. Whether 
the choice in the former case is absolute or conditional is 
a disputed question in theology. Calvinism maintains 
that it is absolute ; Arminianism, that it is conditional. 
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. 
1 Thes. i. 4. 
This election was not founded upon foreseen faith, and 
the obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality 
or disposition in man, as the prerequisite, cause, or con- 
dition on which it depended ; but men are chosen to faith 
and to the obedience of faith, holiness, etc. 
Canons of the Synod of Dort, ix. 
I believe election means, secondly, a divine appointment 
of some men to eternal happiness. But I believe this 
election to be conditional, as well as the reprobation op- 
posite thereto. John Wesley, Works, VI. 28. 
(&t) Those who are elected by God to eternal 
life. 
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for ; but 
the election hath obtained it. Rom. xi. 7. 
7. In astral., a reason for choosing one time 
rather than another for an undertaking ; a 
preference of times. See root, n. 
The assendent sothly, as well in alle nativitez as in ques- 
tiouns & elecciouns of tymes, is a thing which that thise 
astrologiens gretly observen. Chanter, Astrolabe, ii. 4. 
Elections hold good in those cases only where both the 
virtue of the heavenly bodies is such as does not quickly 
pass, and the action of the inferior bodies is such as is not 
suddenly accomplished. 
Bacon, De Augmentis (tr. by Spedding), ii. 4. 
8. In math., a part or the whole of a number 
Of distinguishable objects. The number of elections 
of n things is V 1. Thus, the elections of three things, 
A, B, C, are : A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, ABC. Age Of elec- 
tion. See age, 3. Disseizin by election. See ilisteiiin. 
Elections (Hours of Poll) Act, an English statute of 
1884 (47 and 48 Viet., c. 34). which established hours for 
voting at parliamentary and municipal elections in cer- 
1866 
tain boroughs, from 8 A. M. till 8 p. M. In 1885 (48 Viet., 
c. 10) it was extended to include all such elections. Point 
or place Of election, in sury., the preferred point, as, in 
ligature arteries, the point where in a normal person the 
artery can be most conveniently and advantageously tied. 
Primary election. See primary. Strong or weak 
election, in astral., a great or small preference for one 
time rather than another. = Syn. 1 and 2. Choice, Prefer- 
ence, etc. See option. 
election-auditor (e-lek'shon-a"di-tor), n. In 
Great Britain, an officer annually appointed for 
each constituency, to whom is committed the 
duty of auditing and publishing the account of 
all expenses incurred at parliamentary elec- 
tions. 
electioneer (e-lek-sho-ner'), v. i. [< election + 
-eer.] To employ means for influencing an elec- 
tion, as public speaking, solicitation of votes, 
etc. ; work for the success of a candidate or of 
a party in an election : as, to electioneer for a 
candidate, or for a ticket ; he electioneered with 
great effect. 
He ... took care to engage in his interest all those un- 
derlings who delight in galloping round the country to 
electioneer. Hiss Edgeworth, Rosanna, iii. 
The experiment is now making, . . . whether candidates 
for the presidency shall openly electioneer for that office. 
jR. Choate, Addresses, p. 425. 
electioneerer (e-lek-sho-ner'er), n. One who 
electioneers. 
Many loud-tongued electioneerers, who proved to Vivian, 
by everything but calculation, that he must be returned 
if he would but stand. Miss Edgeworth, Vivian, ii. 
electioneering (e-lek-sho-ner'ing), p. a. Of or 
pertaining to the influencing of voters before or 
at an election : as, electioneering practices. 
elective (e-lek'tiv), a. and n. [= F. eleetif = 
Pr. electiu = Sp. Pg. electivo = It. elettivo, < L. 
as if *electivus, < electus, pp. of eligere, pick put, 
choose: see elect.] I. a. 1. Chosen by election; 
dependent on choice ; bestowed or passing by 
election: as, an elective monarchy (one in which 
the king is raised to the throne by election) ; 
the' office is elective: opposed to hereditary, or 
to tenure by appointment. 
The elective mode of obtaining rulers is the characteris- 
tic policy of republican government. 
A. Hamilton, The Federalist, No. Ivii. 
It came to be disputed whether the monarchy was he- 
reditary or elective. J. Adams, Works, IV. 362. 
By its [the House of Lords'] side arose the House of Com- 
mons, the elective house of the knights, citizens, and bur- 
gesses. E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 369. 
An elective magistracy and clergy, land for all who would 
till it, and reading and writing, will ye, nill ye. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 230. 
2. Pertaining or relating to or consisting in the 
choice or right of choosing by vote : as, the elec- 
tive principle in government ; the elective fran- 
chise. 
The pope . . . rejected both candidates, declared the 
elective power to be forfeited, and put in his own nominee. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., 382. 
The elective right of the chapters and the archiepiscopal 
confirmation were formally admitted. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., 381. 
3. Exerting the power of choice. 
All moral goodness consisteth in the elective act of the 
understanding will. A . Grew, Cosmologia Sacra. 
4. Selecting for combination: as, an elective 
attraction, which is a tendency in bodies to 
unite with certain kinds of matter in preference 
to other kinds Elective affinity, see chemical af- 
finity, under chemical. Elective franchise, monarchy, 
etc. See the nouns. 
II. n. In the colleges of the United States, 
an optional study; any one of a number of 
studies from which the scholar is allowed to 
select that which he prefers. 
Post-graduate electives are allowed to a limited extent. 
Jour. Pedagogy, I., No. 6, advertising p. 6. 
electively (e-lek'tiv-li), adv. By choice; with 
preference of one to another. 
Cabbage is no food for her [the butterfly] ; yet in the 
cabbage, not by chance, but studiously and electively, she 
lays her eggs. Paley, Nat. Theol., xviii. 
electivity (e-lek-tiv'i-ti), n. [< elective + -ity.] 
The quality of being elective. F. W. B. Myers. 
elector (e-lek'tor), n. [= F. electenr = Sp. elector 
= Pg. eUitor = It. etettore, < L. elector, a chooser, 
< eligere, pp. electus, pick out, choose : see elect.] 
One who elects or has the right of choice ; a 
person who has the legal right of voting for 
any functionary or the adoption of any mea- 
sure ; a voter. In free governments the people, or such 
of them as possess the prescribed qualifications, are the 
electors of their legislative representatives, and in some, 
as the United States, of their principal executive officers, 
and in some cases of their judicial officers. 
The rule of Jefferson was followed in requiring no prop- 
erty qualification for an elector. 
Bancroft, Hist. Const., II. 113. 
electoress 
Specifically (a) In the Roman-German empire, one of the 
seven or more princes who had the right to elect the em- 
peror. As established by the Golden Bull of 1356, these 
were the spiritual electors of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, 
and the temporal electors of the Rhine Palatinate, Saxony, 
Brandenburg, and Bohemia. Other German princes, as the 
rulers of Bavaria, Hanover, etc., also had voices in the 
college of electoral princes for longer or shorter periods. 
The original electors held also the great magisterial offices 
of the imperial court. The whole system passed away 
with the empire in 1806. The temporal princes holding 
the right were generally known by the title of elector in 
their several dominions. 
Munich is a place visited by most of the strangers who go 
into Germany ; the elector's palace in the town was finely 
furnished. Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 214. 
(b) In the United States, one of the presidential elec- 
tors. See below. 
The President of the United States . . . and the Vice- 
President are chosen for the term of four years, by elec- 
tors, appointed in such manner as the several States may 
direct. Calhoun, Works, I. 176. 
The electors have no practical power over the election, 
and have had none since their institution. 
T. U. Benton, Thirty Years, I. 37. 
Presidential electors, persons elected by the voters of 
the several States for the purpose of electing the next 
President and Vice-President of the United States. Ori- 
ginally they were expected to exercise some independent 
choice among members of each party represented in their 
body ; but in practice their function soon became merely 
that of casting, votes predetermined by party nomination. 
Each State has as many electors as it has representatives 
and senators in Congress. No person holding an office 
under the United States government is eligible for an 
elector. The Great Elector, the name usually given to 
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg from 1640 to 
1688, who greatly strengthened the Brandenburg-Prussian 
power, and prepared the way for the elevation of the Prus- 
sian monarchy under Frederick the Great. 
electoral (e-lek'to-ral), a. [= F. electoral = 
Sp. electoral = Pg". electoral = It. elettorale ; < 
elector + -al.~\ Of or pertaining to election or 
electors ; consisting of electors. 
Such are the subdivisions in favour of the electoral and 
other princes of the empire. Burke, Economical licfonn. 
The restriction of the electoral franchise to the class 
which was qualified to serve on juries commended itself 
to moderate politicians of the fifteenth century. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., 368. 
Electoral college, a name informally given to the elec- 
tors of a single State, when met to vote for President and 
Vice-President of the United States, and sometimes to the 
whole body of electors. See presidential electors, under 
elector. 
In case the electoral college fails to choose a Vice-Presi- 
dent, the power devolves on the Senate to make the se- 
lection from the two candidates having the highest num- 
ber of votes. Calhoun, Works, I. 175. 
Electoral commission, in U. S. hist., an extraordinary 
commission, consisting of five senators, five representa- 
tives, and five associate justices of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, created by an act of Congress in 1877, to 
whom were to be referred all electoral votes for President 
and Vice-President as to the admission of which the two 
houses could not agree, the Republicans having a major- 
ity in the Senate and the Democrats in the House of Rep- 
resentatives. The occasion for the disagreement was the 
opposite views taken by the respective parties as to the 
relative validity of different sets of electoral votes re- 
turned from the lately seceded States of Louisiana, South 
Carolina, and Florida, and also from Oregon, which would 
decide the election. The result was the seating of the 
Republicans Hayes and Wheeler, as against the Democrats 
Tilden and Hendricks. Electoral crown, the crown 
worn by the electors of the Roman-German empire, repre- 
sented as arched with four half-circles supporting an orb 
and a cross, and doubled or faced with ermine, which 
turns up round the lower rim and has a scalloped edge, 
and with two fillets hanging down on the two sides. 
Electoral mantle, a mantle worn as a mark of office by 
the electors of the Roman-German empire. 
electoralityt (e-lek-to-ral'i-ti), n. [< electoral 
+ -ity.] An electorate. 
Understanding as well this declaration to be for the 
electoralities, principalities, and estates, situate and being 
within the empire. Reliquiae Wottoniana, p. 634. 
electorate (e-lek'tor-at), n. [= F. tlectorat = 
Sp. electorado = Pg. eleitorado = It. elettorato; 
as elector + -ate 3 .] 1. The whole body of elec- 
tors ; the aggregate of citizens entitled to vote. 
Our Liberal electorate has the task thrown upon it not 
only of choosing a good minister, but also of determining 
what the good shall be which this minister is to bring us. 
il. Arnold, in Nineteenth Century, XIX. 654. 
In the new Parliament, notwithstanding the vast in- 
crease of the electorate, there was no direct representation 
of the unions. The Century, XXVIII. 129. 
2. The dignity of an elector in the Roman-Ger- 
man empire. 3. The territory of an elector in 
Germany. 
He . . . can himself command, when he pleases, the 
whole strength of an electorate in the empire. 
Arlduton, Freeholder. 
electoress, electress (e-lek'tor-es, -tres), n. 
[= F. electrice = It. elettrice; as elector + -ess.] 
The wife or widow of an elector of the Boman- 
Germaii empire. 
The eyes of all the protestants in the nation turned to- 
wards the electoress of Brunswick; who was daughter to the 
queen of Bohemia. Bp. Burnct, Hist. Own Times, an. 1700. 
