Evening star., 1916-01-22
Method Taken
From Australia

| HAuStAdlld. ev n o W
names and distribute their "frsts" be-
fore the seven Offices were filled. The
expert counters finally reduce the sit
uation to a number of men correspond
ing to the number of )fices to be filled.
each man having approximately the
same number of votes. and that num-
ber being the quota determined upon
| in the beginning.
While proportional representation is
brand new in the United States, Ash
tabula is not the first city to put trim
mings on its election laws. Grand
Junction, Col. started it five years
age with preferential voting, by which
and third choices. 1t was followed by
Cadillac and Manistee, Mich, where
| preferential voting was adopted when
commission government was estab-
the second and third choices are added
| to the first choice until somebody has
F., a clear majority.
| Proportional representation, as used
| in Ashtabula, was artnsplanted from
| Tasmania, Australia, where it has
years. 1t is also in successful opera
| tion in city elections in johannesburg
and Pretoria, and in the election or
members to the South African senate.
while the new home rule bill for Ire
land proposes that all the members Of
the Irish senate and thirty members Of
the Irish house shall be elected under
the proportional representation system
1t has been modestIy claimed by some
Ashtabulans that Ashtabula has shown
the way to the final type of city gov
ernment on this continent. Whether
or not this is so. it seems certain that
the method used here more nearly
carries out the theory of truly repre-
sentative government than the old rule
of the ma ajority.
The varieties of public opinion repre-
sented in Ashtabula. for example. are
Varieties of Opinion and "drys"
Find Representation. democrats.
republicans and socialists. Under ma
jority rule Ashtabula would almost
certainly have had either seven wet"
or seven ''dry" commissioners. as the
liquor question was the leading issue.
Had the election been held on party
lines one of the two parties would have
dominated the commission. AS it was,
Ashtabula elected four republicans.
two democrats and a socialist, while
three of the commissioners were class
ed as dry" and four as wet"
There are several other advantages
to the Ashtabula method. 1t gives
more sta ability to tenure of Office. A
percent change in public opinion
will make only that much change in
the personnel of the commission. while
under majority rule a ten-per-cent
fluctuation in the vote may work a
political revolution, throwing one
party out of power and bringing in
another with radically different
policies.
| Again. a citizen need not waste his
vote to express his convictions. A
prohibitionist in a town where prohi-
bition stands a slim chance may make
his first choice for prohibitionist and
still vote for some one else with a
better chance of election.
| No political organizations, caucuses
or other means are necessary to hold
the vote together and prevent it from
being wasted too many different
| candidates. The alternative choices
take care of that. Best of all. the
method tends to seizure the co opera
tion and support of all classes and in
terests, because all of them are repse-
sented upon the commission. 1t looks
as though Ashtabula had really added
the finishing touch to commission gov
ernment. Every American who is alive
| to the significance of the municipal
reform movement will watch the
Ashtabula experiment with interest.