The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-04-22
What is Cumulative yottng'

III Oul0 ko0G
lumbia, delivered, before the literary socie-
ties of Wo6prd College, a well-digested ard
mastery adaSess upon the Science of Gov
eminent, desoting the larger portion OF bis
time to a discussion of Proportional Repre-
sentation. After showing that majority rep
.resentation, or the absolute rule OF the rfu-
merlcal majority, utterly fails to fulfil the
lust requirements Of a proper representative
system, Colonel Thomas proceeded to indl-
| cate the points made against majority rep
resentatiou, and for Q reformed representa-
tion-apty styled Proportional The work.
ings of the present system are well explain
ed by b e,New York World as follows
"Under the present electoral system OF the
States, A.beiAg the Democratic candidate iDf
an office and B his Republican antagonist, a1d
the vote being 5000 Democratic and 5oOl lie.
publican, B is elected, and the SNl Reputli-
cans have a representative, but the 5000 Dem
ocrats have none. There is, to be sure, q man
who, under our system, claims to be the repIei
sentative of the entire l0,0Ol voters but we
know that his views, votes and action are for
5o01 only of his constituents, and IN knoWn
opposition to and disregard OF the
5000. He represents, then, but the 50el, aud,
to examine isclosely, Is In reality made q rep
rssentatiye not BIZ 5o0l votes, bat By one vote
only Thus: the poll begins and B receives 20
votes, which are forthwith neutralized by ~
votes Ter A. We're the polls to be now closed,
there would be attic, and nobody would be
elected; the opposing votes would XIII each
other. But the voting goes on; somebody
votes for A, and now, If the polls were closed,
A would be elected. having a msjorityi but
inst here come in two votes for B. which xiii,
AS majority and puts B ahead. So 1t goes on
tll all the votes are In, when 1t is found that
A has 5000 and B 5OO1 votes. B, therefore, Is
ell. cted, and elected, as the verS correct popu-
lar phrase is, by one vote, each Of his other
votes being killed, neuttallzed, nulllfed, made
as II it had not been poTIed, By q correspond
ing antagonlstlc A vote. One vote, then,
elects B, aud does the work for the whole H.
DOL 'men voting.
.B, thus elected, represents the wills and
wishes Of 5Ool persons, and, in representing
such Wills and wishes, necessarily contemns,
thwarts, and dlsregards the. wills and wishes
of the 5000 who oppose the 5O0l. The process
by which B is enabled to do this we term an
election, and when B does this it Is called pop
ular representation. "A more intelligent com.
prehension styles it majority representation,
and while not contesting the right o: The ma
Iority to a representation coordinate with It's
extent, insist on the right Of the minority to a
representation coordinate with Its extent"
This Journal adds "How to secure this right
is the problem of minority representation"
There are various schemes OF proportional
representation, all OF them having Us their
object the protection OF minorities. The
plan which, in the opinion OF Colonel
Thomas (snd We fully concur with him.
comes nearest to the mark is the plan or
Cumulative Voting, already described in
these columns. This was the plan adopted
last year blythe people Of Illinois.
Ut was reported to the Illinois State Con-
yention by Mr. Medill, from the committee
on the electoral and representative REFORM
aud the plan is thus explained: 1T divides the
State into senatorial districts and representa-
tive districts, each whereof is to elect three
members, each eIector having three votes to
dispose of as he wil-one vote to A, one to B,
one to C, or Two to A and one to G, or three to
A OF B or C. How this works may be thus
shown: In the first senatorial district, say,
are 1000 Democrats n $4,000 Republican
voters, or q, 900 Democratic and $1,000 Repub-
!ican.yotps. The polls show