Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-01-19

, having Il e quota" OF votes. ami n,
I more
/ In the Ashtabula election only ono
/ man received more than the quota on
! the original ballot, IL was nnccs..rv
! 70 drop the seven lowest names am,
distribute their "nrsts" before tho seven
offices were nll.d. The expert counters
finally reduce the situation to mum
| Der OF mon corresponding to the num-
Der Of offices to be filled each man
having approximately the same mum
Der II votes. and that number being
the quota determined upon in the be-
ginning
TrnnspInntcd From Australia
7 While proportional representation i.
trand-ncw in The United States. ASH
& idDula Is not the first city to put trim.
/ mings on its election laws. Grand
. Junction. Colorado. started IL i've ycars
ago with preferential voting, by which
caCh voter indicated his FIRST second
ana third choice. II Was followed bv
cadillac and Maristoc. Mich. where
preferential voting WAS adopted when
commission government was cStab-
lished. Under Tits system however
the second and third choices are added
10 thc irst choices untu somebody has
clear ma oyity.
proportional representation, as used
in AshtabUin. was transplan,cd from
Tasmania. Australia. where it mas been
successfully used for u number o,
Nears y Is also in successful operation
. ~ city elections IN Johannesburg ana
J Pretoria, ana In tho election or mem
hers I" the South African Senate,
while tn" n"W aunc-r rule bin for Ire
. land proposes that All the members OF
the IRISH senate and thirty members Of
the IRISH house shall hc elected under
the proportional representation sys.
tom,
y mis- been modes,ly claimed by some
AShtabulans that Ashtahula has shown
tn" way u the finai type OF city gov
crrm"ut on this continent. Whether
or not this IS SO. IL seems certain that
the method uScd here NOR. nearly car
res out the theory 81 truly rcprcscn-
tatiNo government than tn. old rule OF
tn" ma JOrIly.
The Varieties Of public opinion rep
resented Ia Ashtabula. FOR example are
4 tn. vets" ana "drys.' ana the Demo
Gratis Republicans and socialists. Tn
dor majority rule Ashtahula would
almost certainly have had either seven
wet seven dry commissioners.
aS The liquor question was the leading
issue. Had TIL" election been held on
party lines ono of the two parties
would have dominated the commission.
.ts II was. AshtabulR elected four Re
publicans. TWO Democrats and
Socialist. whiir three OF tho commits
sioncrs were Classcd as dry" and four
- wet"
Other Advantages Of Method.
There arc several other ADVANTAGES
TO the Ashtabula method II gives
NOR" stability to tenure OF Office. y
10 per cent change in public opinion
viii make only that much change in
the personnel OF the commission. while
under majority rule a 10 per cent
huctuation IN the vote may work
political revolution. throwing one
I party out OF power and bringing in
another with radically different poll
cics.
Again. citizen need not waste his
vote 10 express his convictions. pro-
hihi;ionist III = town where prohibition
, stands slim chance may make his
first choice for prohbitionist. and
still vote for some one else with
better chance of election.
No political organizations. caucuscS
on other means are necessary to hold
the vote together. and prevent IL from
being wasted on TOO many different
{ candidates. The alternative choices
take care or that. Best of all, the
method tends TO secure the co-opcra-
/ tion and support OF all classes and in
torrsts, because all of them are rep
resented upon the commission. II looks
{ as though Ashtahula had really added
7 the finishing touch to commission gov
eminent Every American who is :tiivo
to the significance or tho municipal
reform movement will watch the Asb-
! tahula experiment with interest.