The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1875-01-06
Cumulative Voti;nie.

S"h"i"oifo J otlN$,'
-
Tho G'eenviile News, in noticing
our endorsement Of tho sentiments 9f
the News and Courier contaius tho
following in regard to Cumulative
voing:
The question of"oumulative" .vo.
ing is sericua one, and deserved a
vast deal of .iguriug as we'll as
thought. We never had fancy for
eithor, and we. sthereforo nsk the
" innsboro News to MAKE calcula.
lion or two for US. What advantage
will "oumnlativo" voting give tho
cons ervative people Of South Caro-.
lima In how many counties will it
give ps. good mon; and in how many
counties will wo lose good men1 In
how many cities and towns will it
give the conservatives the control :
OF, Rt least give them eyen power
thet will benefit the people p, Now,
these questions arc asked the Winns.
boro NeWs in all sofiousness, and we
ask tie News for information be-
cause we have confidence aud faith
IN the god intenticna Of its editor.
Since wo havs been asked Gin all
seriousness" to favor our contempo.
rary with cale4lation. we will ell.
doavor to be obliging, though it has
been many days since Mathematics
were drubted into us, ana ~o are
somewhat rusty in 80, ares."
AS We have no statistics in regard
to towns and cities we can givo 30
positive answer as to tho result of
oumula!ive voting as applied to
them, but VIC feel assured that in every
town there wou Id be minority repro
scntution. Charleston aid Colum-
bia would both 30 vastly benefited by
such a E ystcm.
We ca" give dcfni answer. as
to the relative changes that would
result in the different counties and
if our readers will bear with US, We
will insert some mathematical cal
culntionL.
1t is pcarce!y necccssaty to ex-
Plein the system of cumulative vot-
ing.! It applies when more than QUO
person arc elected to any position.
For instonce, if three county com.
missioners ale to be elected, the
voter is permitted to cast three votes,
whether ior three different persons
or MLetl er lie prefers to cast all
three for one candidate. BY the
present sysstcmGs only. ono vote can be
cast for tbs same cundidatc, and if
he be "plumped" the other two
votes are lost. But by cumulating
votes upon one candidate, tho minor
ity, unless very small in proportion
to the inajo!ity. cAu always secure
representation.
We shall base our c .lcu'ation unon
the vote for governor at the last (elcc-
tlon. And in order to show the c:.arr.
that would result from the introduce
tion of cumnlativo voting, We must
assurDe that al tho cand;dates re-
Gently elected hold the s1me politi
cal tenets as the party clccting tL.m
For "pafty men" could have jnst as
easily been elected Ia a'c.a of tn.
few conservatives VINO were nomiaut.
ed by the regulars az concession to
the very principle laid down by US,
that the minority should have leila
tive representation.
Let us take the case of hbLcyiile
County, where the vote stood, Kepub.
licaps, Al7G, Independents, 25l2.
Tho republicans elected all 6va Of
tee.r nominees TO the. Legislature,
while the large minority of iude-
pehdents have no, representation.
Under the Gun: :alativo sy,tcm, each
AbbeVille voter would be onti.led
to 1.-Two yotcs for representatives, maxi
ing total of @o,88o republican and
l2'o9o indepandcut votes. Assume
that each party pomiunted an entire
ticket The result would remain tn c
same as at present. But tho 1nde.
pendents by consolidating their vote
upon tvo candidates could have given
to " each, e,295 votes. The republic
cans, BY dividing their vote 70, among
loT; candidates, could have given only
o'22o votes TO each, and only three
would be elected besides the two
Independents. By consolidating On