The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-22
SWEEPING CHANGE
 TN ELECTION SYSTEM IS PROPOSED IN BILL
New Franchise Measure Before English Parlia-
 ment Is Far-Reaching
 in Its Effects

London, June 20.--Sw coping changes in the election system in this country are provided for in a bill now before Parliament. Proportional Representa- < tion which aims to give all clements a larger voice in the government. the granting of the vote to women more
 than 80 years old and giving the fran
 chise to all soldiers and sailors are the outstanding features of the meas lure.
 This new franchise reform bill. of Eficially known as the representation of the peoples bill. is to large extent the result of investigations conducted over a period of nearly 10 years by Iroyal commission appointed Ito ex-
 anime the various schemes which have
 been adopted \ proposed in order to secure a fully representative charac- ter for popularly elected legislative bodies" Here are some of the provi- sions of tRe bill now before Parlia- ment:
 a vote on the basis of six months residence cf occupation of business premises. An elector may have two fvotes and nS moreone for residence 6 in one cohstituency and one for busi- ness premises, Of the value of flo year in another.
 Any woman of 30 years old who is entitled to vote at the municipal cleo tions, or who is the wife of any man who is entitled to vote at such cleo Ition is to be entitled to vote in the national elections for members of Par iliament.
 Soldiers and sailors of legal age to be qualified to vote in the area in. which they ordinarily reside. Half yearly revision of the national voting list and all elections for Par liament to be held on the one day. Proportional representation in ex- tensive urban areas and redistribution of seats on basis of population. One member of Parliament for every 70,000 of the population. No member for a town under 50.000.
 The provisions of the women's suf- frage and proportional representa- .ion clauses are left for final decision by the House of Commons; they may be
 modified as suits the judgment of the
 majority of the members.
 The proportional representation feature of the bill has attracted most attention
 here. It provides for many changes in the system of representation, chief of
 which perhaps is that it gives the con-
 stituents of defeated candidates for mem-
 her of Parliament in a three-cornered
 fight actual representation in the gov- ernment. The system had been in force in Belgium forg20 years before the war and has just been adopted in Holland.
 Here is an example of the. system which
 the reform remedies: In district hay ing 5000 registered voters there are three
 candidates for one vacant seat. Suppose that candidate A polls 2000 votes, candi- date R polls 1900 votes and candidate C polls 1200 votes. The result is that Cam didate A is returned to the head of the poll with 2000 votes; while 5000 voters have sgnified their unwillngness to have him as their representative.
 To prevent this return of plurality can
 didates 1t is proposed to introduce the alternative vote into the nations electoral
 system. Instead of putting cross (x)
 on the ballot against the name of the candidate he prefers, the voter under the
 system of the alternative vote, would
 place the numeral 1 against the candi- dates name and the numeral against
 the name of the candidate who came next in his choice. When the votes were count ed those marked i would be added for each candidate in the first place, and If the addition showed an absolute majority of the votes boiled for any candidate
 that candidate would he declared to be duly elected.
 But if the addition of the first choice votes did not give an absolute ma ioritv for any candidate, then the following pro- cedure Would De adopted; The candidate at the bottom of the poll would be de- cared defeated, and his name eliminated, but his ballot papers would be re-exam- lined and the votes transferred to the second choices as marked on those pa pers. If after the transfer of such votes some candidate had an absolute majority. 5 .e would be declared elected If not the Candidate left at the bottom of the poll By the first elimination would be de- &lared defeated and his votes transferred }b the second choices. This process would