Complex sentence: The method of voting, was telling the returning officer orally who you were going to vote for, this method would last until 1898 when a ballot was first used in a By-election in the Whitewood district.
Split into simpler sentences: The method of voting was by orally telling the returning officer who you were going to vote for. This lasted until 1898 when a ballot was first used in a By-election in the Whitewood district.