East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-06-09

office. For an office which is filled
by the election Of one person, It may
be required by law that the person
elected shall be the final choice Of a
majority of the electors voting for
that office. These principles may be
applied by law to nominations by po-
litical parties and organizations.
The amendment is of greatest in
terest so far as II affects the cleo
ton of members Of the legislature.
Proportional representation in the
legislature contemplates that mem
bers shall be elected from districts
large enough to entltle each district
to not less than three and preferably
not less than five members. The
larger the number Of representatives
from a district the more exact the
proportion of representation.
Plan Of Cumulative Voting.
There are a multitude Of plans for
the accomplishment OF proportional
representation, many Of them similar
in general principle but varying in de-
tall One plan. for instance is that
Of cumulative voting. This plan may
be thus Illustrated: Let It be sup
posed that In a certain district there
are five representatives TO be elect
ed. Under the cumulative plan each
voter will be entitled TO cast five
votes. He may cast one vote for each
of the five candidates. or five votes
for one candidate. or three for one
and two for another, or two and
half for each Of two candidates Then
in a district republican by a small
majority. the democrats could prac-
tically assure the election of two of
their candidates by nominating only
two and concentrating their five
votes on these two. In order to be 1
sure that the democrats would not !
get too large a representation the re-
publicans would probably find it ad-
visable to nominate only three or
four candidates, upon whom to con-
centrate their votes.
Another Plan of Division.
Another plan suggested is that I
which retains the present method of
voting but guarantees each party its
of representation by de-
termining the method of ascertaining
the result of the vote. For instance,
he law under this plan will declare
that each party shall be entitled to
according to the num-
Der of votes cast for its candidates.
II five representatives are to be elect
ID I'm a district, the total vote for all
parties will be divided by the number
Of representatives. which will give
he quota of votes which entitle a
party to a seat in the legislature.
Then If there be 5000 voters in the
district. with five representatives to
elect, a party will be entitled to
for each 1000 votes
,ast for its candidates. II the repub-
lean candidates have received 5000
votes and the democratic candidates
1000, the democrats will be entitled
o two seats, even though their high
,st two candidates have received
smaller vote than the lowest two re-
)ublicans. In that case, the success
'ul candidates would be the three
highest republicans and the two high
,st democrats. The effect to be given
o a fraction of quota Is a problem
lificult to work out satisfactorily.
Might Transfer Votes.
Still another plan of securing pro-
,ortional representation is that of
a candidate to transfer his
'otes, If he has not enough to elect
himself. When he declares his cam
lidacy, he may declare to whom he
wishes his ineffective votes transfer