The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1870-05-28
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The Neyv Mode orVoting.

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Convention, in such a manner that, ifadopt-
ed, the members of the Lower House of the
Legislature will hereafter be elected on
| this plan. Each Legislative District will
elect one Senator and three Representa-
tives. Under the system now submitted,
voters are now permitted, in voting for the
Representatives, to cast one vote each for
the three, and one and half votes each for
two, or three votes for one
The Chicago Tribune, which favors the
reform, thus explains the manner in which
elections will be conducted under the new
constitution
1t is assumed that the two political parties
viii, under this provision, each nominate
only the number Of candidates its votes will
enable it to elect, leaving the opposing par
ty to nominate the number of candidates
its votes will elect. Thus if district has
5000 votes, of which 600 are Republican,
in electing three members, the 2,300 votes,
if concentrated upon one man, are sure to
elect him, because the 6,7O0 votes divided
among three candidates viii give them only
,, ,233 votes each. To elect one minority
candidate among three, therefore, it is only
necessary that the minority shall have bare
ly more than fourth of the total vote If
however, the minority party is grasping,
and attempts to elect two candidates out of
three, it is liable to lose its Representative
altogether For instance, if the Republi-
cans have $500, and the Democrats $500
out of the 5000, the Republican vote divid-
ed among three candidates, will give them
1888 votes each, while the Democratic vote
divided between two, viii give them only
,250 each, and Republicans exclusively
viii be elected At the same time, it is as
dangerous for the majority to grasp more
than they are entitled to as for the minority.
If, for instance, out of a total vote of 5000,
the Democrats have 8, $50, and the Repub-
licans 1850, if the Democrats should at
tempt to elect the three candidates. their
votes, divided among three, would give them
only 1888 each, while the Republican vote,
divided between two, would give them
,825 each, and thus the Republicans,
though in d minority of the popular vote,
would get two out of the three members.
1t may be assumed, therefore, that the aim
of both parties will be to nominate cniy the
number of candidates to which their vote
entities them in districts where the disparity
between their strength is well known and
considerable. In such districts, therefore,
there viii be no party strife, because neith-
er party viii nominate candidates to run
against those nominated by the opposite
party. Each party will know that the can
didate Zone or mors) which it nominates
will be elected. In such cases, the real
strife for this particular Office would be in
the conventions of each party, and not be-
fore the people at the polls. But this is
equally so under the present system, with
the difference that, under the present sys-
TEN, the evil of transferring the contest
from the people at the polls to the nominal
ing convention is aggravated by the fact
that the convention of the majority party
really elects all the candidates, while, un-
der the proposed plan, it only elects part
In most Of the districts Of Southern Illinois,
under the present system, the Democrats,
though having majority of only a few
hundred would nominate the Senator and
all the Representatives. Thus, in district
Of 5000 votes, if 4,499 were Republican,
and 4,501 were Democratic, the two votes
which constitute the Democratic majority
would elect all the members, and one-half
the people would be unrepresented. Under
the new system, as well as under the
present, in district whose party majorities
are large, there is, virtually, no contest at
the polls on the immediate candidates run
ming; The only difference is that, under
the present system, 1t is known in advance
that three members of one party only will
be elected, while, under the proposed sys-
TEN, it would be known In advance that
two of one party and one Of the other
would be elected In either case, the real
choice Of candidates would be made by the
nominating convention, and, In either case,
nomination would be equivalent to an
election. In the one case, the power and
corruption would concentrate in one con
vention. In the other, it would divide be-
tween two. But, in districts closely divid-
ed, both parties would nominate two candi-
dates, hoping to elect majority, and the
party strife would not be sensibly lesseued
Mr. John Bright, of England in a speech
to his constituents, prior to the present
session Of Parliament, opposed the system
Of limited voting adopted there to secure
the representation Of minorities, and pre-
dicted its certain and speedy repeal. His
opposition was based on the increased ez-
penses Of election necessary TO ensure that
every voter should cast his vote so as TO
elect the Iarosst number Of renresentatiEes-