Confusion over dates 1840 or 1855 In the article on STV it states that the original concept was not used in a real election until introduced in 1855 by Carl Andrae a Danish politician Yet in another Wikipedia article on Thomas Wright Hill it states that STV was used in an election in Adelaide South Australia in 1840 Presumably this qualifies as a real election If so there would appear to be some confusion over when STV was first used in a public election Here is the exact quotation from the article on Thomas Wright Hill Thomas Wright Hill 24 April 1763 in Kidderminster 13 June 1851 in Tottenham was a mathematician and schoolmaster He is credited as inventing the single transferable vote in 1819 His son Rowland Hill famous as the originator of the modern postal system introduced STV in 1840 into the world s first public election for the Adelaide City Council in which the principle of proportional representation was applied