New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-25
FOR EQUAL REPRESENTATIVES
A Plea for the Proportional MetboJ
of Choosing Legislators.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

Representation" you call attention 70 ~.
grossly unequal and unjust plan tina. now a.
.ains for the election Of Assemblynen, wbs,..
by five upstate counties, with an sg1rera.
population less than that Of one New Yo,k
City Assembly district, elect five Asssmbly.
men. against one for the urban district sur..
Iv any fair-minded man will admit that su,h
arrangements have neither sense nor justie.
As YOU say, the city must look 70 tho Con.
stitutional Convention for help.
The New York State Proportional Rsor..
sentation League, as also, | believe, son.
other associations Of citizens, intends 10 pr..
sent TO the convention certain provisions 20,
insertion in the constitution % permit ese.
lions Of members Of the Legislature, as w.u
as OF city councils and similar bodies, 70 b,
by some plan Of proportional representation.
II is not proposed that that plan shall b
made mandatory.
All that we ask Is the removal Of certain
constitutional restrictions that now make u.
adoption of that plan In the election Of Sen.
tors and Assemblymen imposslbl9; tha. ths
plan be made constitutional, so that the Ls,.
islature can adopt II whenever :he people a,k
for IL, as they surely will do whenever thsy
come to understand it. II is 20 obviously jgr
and rational that no one who understands (,
fails 10 approve Of it. Wherever II has been
tried-and it has been for some time in sue.
cessful operation in various countries-no
one would think OF abandoning il and going
back to the old ways. Such, at least, is the
information that we get from abroad. The
league hopes to enlist on It's side your power.
full support and that Of your readers.
Proportional representation would make In
/ ;uf f,etfnoa fropCeefh|a Ia
cipal object, as It's name implies, is 10 make
sure that every locality, party or section o!
voters shall be fairly and proportions,ely
represented in the law making body; tha.
every electors vote shall count, and shall
count equally with every other elector's ths,
voter in New York City shall not be fob
bed off with a one-power vote, while his fel-
low citizen in Putnam County enjoys an
eight-power vote.
! Il is not only as between localities, but also
"a between parties and individuals, that the
present system is unjust. As we all know,
party having small pluralties in many dis
| tricts may elect many more representatives
than IL is fairly entitled TO, willie party that
| is massed in a few districts, where it piles Up
useless majotities, may ge' SIS than its
share. A minority Of the voters may actual!
elect a majority of the representatives. Thu
! l4ads to the nefarious practice o. gerry
wandering the districts. All this Is quite
impossible under proportional representation.
Every party gets its just proportion OF rep
resentatiyes no more and no less; and gerry
Wandering is impracticable.
At present, too, large proportion OF the
votes cast is wasted, and the voters, deprived
Of any representation az all in any true sense,
are practically disfranchised. !; a district IS
Democratic, for instance, al! the Republican
voters are practically disfranchised. Gener-
allv in any district there is no use in any
body but the members Of one party taking
the trouble to vote. Therefore citizens lose
interest in voting. The plan Of proportional
representation corrects this injustice also L
provides that every vote cast or nearly every
one-small remainders are sometimes left
over-shall actually count in the election OF
a representative; that every voter. whether
he belongs to the majority or 10 minority
party in his district, can help 70 elect rep
resentative who will thus actually represen,
him.
The details Of the various plans Of proper
tional representation, or OF any single plan,
cannot be gone into here for want Of space
ANY one interested in the subject can get n
formation by addressing the secretary o. the
New York State Proportional Representation
League, Park Avenue Hotel. New York cry.
The league has its headquarters at that hotel.
However, all the plans Of any importance en-
body the same principles and genera! IDEAS
and use the machinery Of the quota and the
transferable vote.
In brief. instead of Assemblymen being
chosen. as now, from single member districts
BY plurality vote, all votes east FOR unsuc'
cessful candidates going for nothing, under
a plan of proportional representation larger
Assembly districts would be constituted eaeh
electing somewhere, say, from five 10 nine As
semblymen.
Each elector would vote for only one As
! semblyman as his personal choice, az ne Goes
at present, but would also indicate on MS
! ballot in a certain manner how he Wsnea us
vote to go if it was not needed or cou'd ho'
be made effective 70 elect the man Of us
choice; that is, practically, though not 81
WAYS in form, he would indicate. besides MS
| first choice, second and subsequent cno!ces
The whole number of votes cast IS diWdel
by the number of Assemblymen 70 be caoseh'
and the quotient, called quota, Is The num-
| Der of votes regularly necessary 20 e!ee' o"0
Assemblyman. Every candidate who mas re-
ceived a quota of votes is elected, and any
! DOdy OF voters WnlCu can muster " -.
votes can combine and elect one Assembly,
man, whomsoever they chose 70 elect without
any regard to majorties or minorues or I"
how the other electors vote. Il a party eaS''
two quotas Of votes it elects two Of It's can
didates if three quotas, three. ana SO o.
Each party or group Of voters gets rs snare
Of course on first counting the votes some
candidates will be found, 10 have received
much more than a quota Of votes escn;
popular candidate might receive seyeFA'
quotas; and as a consequence Of this PINES
up of votes in one place there must De DC
ficiencies in other places. and the full nui'0e'
of Assemblymen will not be found 70 nave
been elected Here come In the transfer
Of votes from those candidates VINO 90 ~
need them or who it appears cannot possioy
be elected TO other candidates indicated "
the voters on their ballots until as Jar
possible all the votes have been coneen'f'''1
into full quotas to the required NUMBER