Evening star., 1902-04-12
HOW CONGRESSES VOTE
THE CUSTOMS OF MANY OF THE
NATIONS REVIEWED.
An Effort is Being Made to Revise the
Procedure in the British
Parliament.
From the London News.

A parliamentary paper issued yesterday
contains reports 20 Lord Lansdowne by his
majestys representatives abroad as to how
divisions are taken in foreign legislative as
semblies. Thus the mother of parlia-
ments'' is looking for her children through
out the world for hints to the reform of
her domestic affairs. The European coun-
tries dealt with are France. Germany,
Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Belgium
Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and
Switzerland. In addition, there are reports
from the United States and Japan. In near
ly all these countries, all in fact but the
United States, the preliminary vote by call
ing out AYE" and no" is absent The
Ell and the Netherlands. is by the members
on one or both sides of question to rise
and be counted while standing. In case Of
doubt, or on the demand Of a specified
is generally the next step, the names being
marked off on printed lists. But for spe-
cial circumstances more elaborate methods
are often provided.
In the French chamber of deputies vot-
ing by rising from the seat C'par assis ct
leveD is replaced by "scrutin public" II
the result of the first vote has been doubt
full or is challenged by a single deputy.
'Scrutin public is also the method If
twenty deputies have previously signed q
reuuisition for it, and 1t Is obligatory in
regard to all bills concerning loans and
taxation. 1t is, in fact, the method almost
Invariably followed in any division of i'm
pcrtance, and is carried out follows:
The president requests the deputies to
take their seats. Each deputy has two vot-
ing tickets on which his name is written
ono white and one blue. the former being
yea" the latter may" The ushers one
of whom is allotted to each section of the
chamber, then take around urns into which
each deputy drops his voting ticket. When
all the votes have thus been collected, the
president declares the ballot closed The
urns are taken to the tribune where the
votes are counted by the secretaries and
the result proclaimed by the president.
If forty members request it. deputies must
advance to the tribune to deposit their own
voting tickets. The roll call is occasionally
adopted to insure greater accuracy.
In the Reichstag.
When a division takes place in the Ger
man reicnstag full quorum of 397 MEM
bers must be present. Members stand for
the first vote, and the semi-crcular form
of the chamber enables them to be more
easily counted. In case Of doubt members
leave the chamber and vote by entering
through opposite doors, much in our own
house of commons. On motion supported
by fifty members the voting must be by
alphabetical roll call.
The Italian chamber Of deputies frs:
their places. But ten members can demand
a division of the type familiar in this coun-
try; fifteen can demand a roll call, and
twenty may insist on vote by ballot.
Demand for ballot supersedes that for a
roll call, as the latter overrides the de-
mand for a simple division. The ballot is
secret, being taken by white and black
balls dropped into two urns. The final
vote on every bill must be by ballot To
save time a ballot may be taken on three
measures at once, of course, with precau-
tCns against any deputy using more than
one white or one black ball in each case.
1r the Austrian reichstag both houses
vote in the same way, first by members
standing in their places-the president only
declaring the exact numbers, If required,
and then, In case Of doubt, or on a demand
OF fifty members, by alphabetical roll
call, which occupies about half an hour.
and lastly. on the order of the house by
ballot papers deposited in an urn Members
either drop their papers in any order, which
takes ten minutes, or are called UP alpha
betically to do so, when the time taken 10
over half hour Pairing is unknown,
Almost all business is carried on by the
first method Of voting. The roll cali was
only used seventy times in the session
whlch lasted from 1891 to 1897, and the bal
lot Is practically confined to elections.
In Spain the vote by standing is replaced
IN certain cases by paper slips or ballot
balls dropped in an urn. In Portugal the
vote by rising Is replaced by a roll call on
the common method of voting In Belgium
the roll call Is used where there is doubt
OF count, or on the demand of five mem
Ders or when an entire law is being voted
here and In some of the other countries the
name on the roll first called is chosen by
lot, and the reading goes on alphabetically
from that point. In Denmark the thing
the thing is their name for DarlismenD
cannot pass any resolution unless half of
It's members are present and vote Twelve
members may demand roll call, otherwise
members rise and are counted in their
places. The closure may be voted nv tho
thing without debate In the Netherlands
a roll call Is the common form of division
and may be demanded by a single member
But the whole Of the second chamber of
the states general only consists of q hun
dred members. In the Swedish riksdap
members dividing are called by name. and
hand to the speaker closed and folded
papers bearing only the words Yes or
No When both houses vote Jointly the
time taken is fifteen minutes; either SEN
arately can divide in less time
A Curious Feature.
A curious little feature of the country ;s
that before beginning 1t the speaker seals
and lays aside one of the papers. If on
counting the rest the votes are equal the
sealed paper decides the matter If there is
majority without appealing to 1t the
sealed paper is destroyed unopened. In
Switzerland standing up and the roll call
are the two recognized methods.
In Japan divisions are taken by counting
members standing or by open or secret bal
lot. On the demand of twenty members
the count Is done by making each member
stand up and declare his vote separately
an elaborate form of roll call, which takes
forty minutes. Thirty members NAV de-
mand an open ballot by white and blue bill
lets of wood bearing the members names
This Is shorter than the formal count, and
only takes fifteen minutes. There is also a
secret ballot by black and white balls,
which takes twenty minutes.
Cumbrous though the voting system of
our British legislators may be- 1t will be
observed that no method Of voting taking
up much less time is anywhere in use. The
report from Germany. however, mentions
that during the session of 1S69-7O a motion
was introduced in the Prussian lower house
in favor of the voting telegraph" The
house decided against the motion partly be-
cause no pressing need existed for shorten
ing the divisions but there were no practi-
cal suggestions made to the machine. The
time for taking the votes Of the lower
house would. according to this scheme oc-
cupy about one to two minutes Each mem
Der was to have at his place a handle to
turn to right or left he wished to vote
Yes" or NO and this handle was only
capable of being turned by the member to
NIL ha halo