The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1868-09-26
CHICAGO. SATURDAY. SEPT. &c, 1858.
tContiI | from last weeks ApEocArE.l
Personal REPRESENTA-

merable election districts, from which sir
gle member Of Legislative body must be
elected. A man living in one Of these little
districts may be continually in hopeless
minority, while II that minority could throw
its ote across the conn'y-line they would
find another minority witt like interests, who
would gladly ;;cin .hem in ele,ting repre-
sentative. The proposed plan s to break
down these boundries and permit men to
apply their vote in another place, if they
cannot secure representation by voting for a
local candidate. For instance, in electing
members of congress, Illinois Is divided into
some fourteen districts, and esea district
elects only one member, and any man who ex-
poets to be elected to congress must secure
majority Of all the vOtes cost in some one OF
these disulcts. Now what we propose is 10
divide the state Of Illinois into three congress
siona districts instead Of fourteen say the
northern district the middle district, and the
southern district Under this system all the
workingmen in the northern part Of the
state could unite therein and elect, at lea st,
one member Of congress out o. the number to
which their district would be entitled. So
far there is no change in the present mode
Of voting excepting to enlarge the districts
aud the number of members TO be elected il
each district.
The judges OF election in each precinct
should return to the judges Of election at
the central point in the district list Vi all
the votes cast at the election and for whom
cast. The judges of election, at the central
point, should consolidate these returns just
as they do now only in larger districts, but
instead of declaring who has the majority of
ali the votes as now, let them publish the |
name Of each person who has received any !
number OF votes, let them determine how many |
votes nave been cast for INSTANCE in the whole /
district for member of congress, and dividing
the whole number Of votes cast oy the num-
Der Of members Of congress to which tue
district is entitled, thus fixing the number OF
votes requisite to elect one member Of con- /
gress. If SIX are to be elected from one dis |
trict, as we will assume, any person receiv-
ing 0ne-Sirth OF the whole vote Of the district
is declared to have a quota, which secures
his election, and any person receiving GER
tam portion Of such aqu0ta Is declared R0Dal- !
mattel for congress and elected a member Of the 4
electoral convention. For the purpose OF
further celebrating the plan, using figures
ny way of illustration. Say there are thirty 4
Thousand votes cast in the northern district
Of Illinois, there are six members to be elect 4
ed, tbs quota Of votes necessary to elect a
member would be one-slxth OF thirty thou
sand, VIZ: tive Thousand votes. Now, if the /
worklngmen ia northern Illinois have united
there woes upon one man To the amount OF
five thousand votes, tney have elected re-
preventative q congress, which they could
not have done had they been competed, as |
nov, 10 vote In Sax Separate districts. But
there may De Two worHIngmen's Candidates
in the field, one may receive, say tnIee
thousand votes, and the other TWO thousand
votes Vi any otner number now will tnese
votes be managed. here comes the Innova-
ton on our present system. So far We have
only enlarged the districts, and PROVIDED
tuat several members shall be elected at
large in ail the districts they are now in
exceptional cases. We now propose to pro- |
vide for the application of the vote where
the person voted for has either not received |
a quota or has votes to spare IN excess Of q
quota.
days after election, let all the persons |
Ia the district who have received not Less
than a certain number of votes, say one
tenth II quota as estimated, meet in con.
ven ion at the central point IN the district
and transfer votes one 70 another, until BY
transfer and by votes primarily received, SIX
men have each i've thousand votes, and are
consequently elected; in that case the work
ingmen's candidate, who had received two
thousand votes would transfer his two thou
sand votes to his friend and iellow-working
man vino had received three thousand votes,
giving HIN quota Of five thousand votes
and making him member Of congress.
But the question may he asked, suppose
the man with the two thousand votes is not
willing to transfer his vote, then perhaps
tho man WITH three thousand will transfer to
him, and in case they cannot agree, then 1t
appears that the workIngmen have not done
well in voting for these men, and next time
will choose men who will consider the inter.
est Of their constituents rather than their
own ambition. If after 9 certain number Of
sessions Of the convention or Of ballots to
be kixed BY Law, all the quotas are not 6l.ed
by transfers, then, in addition to those Who
have = quota, sufficient number should be
declare elected FROM those who have nearest
quota
II any person voted for receives more than
quota he may ia convention transfer to
some one whom he thinks viii represent this
portion Of his constituency, tssss srtra cotes.
II be has not votes enough to make up al
quota be may transfer what he has so as to
secure representation for bis constituents.
or be may receive transfers Of votes from
others Sufficient to secure his own election.
We think it unnecessary to enlarge further
upon the details Of the plan at this time; the
pfincipls is, We think, obvious; 1t can be APP
piled 10 the election Of members Of all the
legislative bodies in the country. There h
nosbihg complicated aboutit, and We are
coh6deft that It can be easily brought into
pracsic i the people desire 4.
Though, under this systems We should
Dee iust % we do now, each ballot would
have the same effect % thonsb y contained
shess words: II dssirs thar Jghn Doc
should xepressnt me . q. wsmbsr q