1861 Australia: Catherine Helen Spence
in a pamphlet A Plea for Pure Democracy she put forward a system of STV where votes would be transferred both to address surplus votes held by winners and votes held by un-electable candidates. Multi-member distri
cts, not at-large, was to be the districting. (Perhaps at the time South Australia, her subject area, was mostly using multi-member districts and Spence might have thought it was easier just to go with the existing districting, rather than to try to force a state-wide at-large contest.)
Spence did not see the districts as being discrete separate entities -- in her notion of STV she pictured votes passing from a candidate in one district to a candidate in another district if that was choice of voter.
A PLEA FOR PURE DEMOCRACY. MR. HARE'S REFORM BILL APPLIED TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
"THE PURE IDEA OF DEMOCRACY IS THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE BY THE WHOLE PEOPLE EQUALLY REPRESENTED." JOHN STUART MILL
BY C. H. S. [Catherine Helen Spence]
ADELAIDE :
PUBLISHED BY W.C. RIGBY, HINDLEY STREET; AND GEORGE ROBERTSON, MELBOURNE.
1861
"THE PURE IDEA OF DEMOCRACY IS THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE BY THE WHOLE PEOPLE EQUALLY REPRESENTED." JOHN STUART MILL
[p. 6] Politicians have divided the country into boroughs and districts more or less equal, have allowed more or less extension of the suffrage, and more or less freedom ofchoice in the candidature, but they have all gone onthe principle that however the constituency was formed, the majority should have a right to their representative, and the minority have none. The minorities have felt this a hardship when they were defeated, but they always lived in hope that they might turn the tables on their opponents, and be the majority by and by.
In a country like Great Britain where the franchise is limited, and where there are so many different large interests, there is a chance that the majority in the agricultural may be a minority in the commercial or manufacturing districts ; so that an opinion which is pretty widely diffused will be sure to command majorities in one part of the kingdom, and thus have a chance of being heard in Parliament. But in such a community as this, where the suffrage is universal, and where the numerical majority everywhere are labouring men and small farmers, where they have the same interests, much the same education, and read the same newspapers, it is quite possible that an opinion held by two-fifths of the people might not command a majority in any particular constituency.
...
But the unanimity of the members returned would be no proof of the unanimity of public opinion, for the minority had been defeated in detail in every constituency; while, if they had their fair share of political power, they might have returned eight of the old members expressly on account of the very vote which had so irritated the majority.
[p. 7] 6. To what purpose, it may be said, to return eight members to a House composed of thirty-six? To be outvoted, of course. Certainly to be out-voted, but not to be silenced - and there is an immense difference there.
They would be ready to take advantage of any change in public opinion, to investigate the proceedings of the majority, to point out their blunders, and modify their extreme measures - this is all we claim for minorities. The majority out of doors will always be the majority in doors. Majorities will actually rule under the equal representation system till the end of time, but that they will rule more wisely and more justly is indisputable.
This is what people may criticise in detail but which no true democrat can censure in principle, for it is pure representative Democracy - not the spurious Democracy that has usurped its name.
...
Constituency would have been more fairly represented than it is now. This principle, which would secure an equal representation in a town returning six members, Mr. Hare's scheme would extend to a whole community. That every voter shall have one vote which he shall give to one man, and that he shall be at liberty to choose his man out of the whole range of candidates in the country or colony, and that the number of votes necessary to secure a candidate's return shall be determined by the number of votes polled, which, divided by the number of representatives required, shall constitute the quota.
For the House of Assembly of thirty-six persons we shall suppose there are 18,000 recorded votes, and this requires that each man should have 500 votes.
These are first principles ; all others are questions of detail.
The most important of these is, that as leaders of parties and popular men are not to have more than their quota of votes, there will not be enough of votes to make up the thirty-six quotas, therefore each man is allowed a second choice in case his first man does not get 500 votes, or in case he has 500 without him, and if the second choice is under or over the quota he may have a third, a fourth, a fifth, or as many as he pleases .
He writes in his voting-paper, or marks in the printed list, the candidates' names according to the order of his preference, and the first man in his list who needs his vote gets it.
When a voting-paper has contributed to the return of a representative, it is put away as done with, and the name of the returned candidate is cancelled from the remaining voting-papers.
Local votes are preferred to those from other districts, and when it is necessary to choose between votes in the same locality, the list which contains fewest names is preferred.
We will suppose that there will be twenty-four candidates who can make up the quota, or more than the quota, of first votes. This disposes of 12,000 voting-papers, leaving 6,000 from which to select the remaining twelve.
First, he must take those voting-papers which contain 500 first and second votes ; then 500, first, second, and third ; then 500 first, second, third, and fourth, and lower still if necessary. [sounds like the Bucklin Count system.]
[ p. 8] 10. This is the system that ensures to every man his fair share in the Legislature. This is the whole machinery which provides that every vote shall be used to aid in the return of one member;
11. Everything that is new must expect opposition, and no one could suppose Mr. Glyde's suggestions could escape it; but I think that the tone of the remarks in the House of Assembly and in the newspaper comments have not been wise or candid. I protest against the same man objecting first that the scheme is too perfect to be practical, and then that it is not perfect enough; or against it being too great a change in the apportioning of power, and in the same breath asserting that it will result in no change at all.
...
[p. 11] I cannot say whether the adoption of this system would be of greatest advantage to majorities, or to minorities. ...
18. ... But great as are the advantages to minorities of having their votes freed, and their individual powers of action made available, I think, the advantage to majorities is no less.
19. In the first place, they can be sure of getting bona-fide representatives. Those who hold different opinions can appeal to different constituencies, and go in free; they are not exposed to the strong temptation of colouring or concealing their real thoughts, as the only means of getting into Parliament at all.
20. The second advantage to the majority would be that they would hear both sides of every question, that objections would have to be met fully and fairly; and that questions would be discussed in Parliament, in newspapers, at election meetings, and public meetings generally, in a very different way from what takes place now. A minority unrepresented is a sulky and useless thing; going about continually with a grievance for which it has no redress, unable to make its voice heard in Parliament, or at public meetings, or its views fairly advocated by the press. A minority represented, is the true sharpener of the wits of the ruling powers, the educator of the people, the animator of the press. It is the only strong and well organized opposition to government, possible, under democratic institutions; without it, there may be struggles as to who shall be out, and who shall be in; for so long as there are such things as place and power, those who have not got them will want to gain them, and those who have them will try to keep them. But such opposition is factious and obstructive - not constitutional and progressive.
21. It is not merely when the minority are in the right that they can give such life and vigour to the body politic; right or wrong, the genuine representatives of existing opinion are always the friends of truth.
...
29. ... It is the old English idea of borough representation that has given this false notion of the paramount claims of local interests; people have forgotten that the aim of representation is to represent citizens - not cities.
30. ... It is quite possible to pay too high a price for a representation exclusively local; the country loses more when two stupid or two dishonest men are brought into Parliament than the district does by having no local representative at all.
...
32. The objection which we hear most frequently raised to Mr. Hare's system of Equal Representation is that it is troublesome and complicated. No doubt it is somewhat more troublesome than the present system of counting votes at each polling place in each constituency, and declaring who has the majority, and how large it is.
But it is by no means so troublesome as people imagine.... to ascertain the real state of public opinion, and to secure the blessing of good Government.
added info to #32
The "complicated" objection has been met by me and my apostles in South Australia by test ballots voted and counted after every lecture on the subject. What appears difficult when described is quite simple when it is done.
===================== ...
[p. 19] 43. that we will have better government and cheaper government under equal representation than under partial representation, a people so shrewd as ours are quite capable of perceiving.
Besides, I appeal to the strongest sentiment of the Anglo-Saxon race - the love of justice and fair play - and I appeal with confidence, not to the minority who may differ from me in principle, but to the majority who agree with me. The man who believes that men are not equal, who wants to have a property qualification, or an educational qualification, may object to the absolute numerical fairness of this plan; but from the people themselves, from the Political Association, I expect and I claim sympathy and support. He who honestly believes in political equality should do all in his power to carry it into effect, and this is the only means of doing it .
44. [Some say they have to win in one district by even slight majority] ... to keep up the balance of power; that they expect to be defeated in several constituencies, and therefore they must use all the power that the law allows them in those in which they have the predominance.
But if it is proved by arithmetical demonstration that if they have three fourths of the constituencies, they will have three-fourths of the members - that if they have two-thirds of them, they will have two-thirds - if five-sixths, they are sure of five-sixths - under this new system, we will no longer hear that injustice in one place is necessary to counteract injustice in another, but that justice to all deprives them of no legitimate power - only of the power of doing mischief to others. In fact, I believe that elections conducted on the new principle would make the majority in the House of Assembly stronger than it at present is. But then the majority would be fairly ascertained, and the minority perfectly independent.
...
53. ... Yet, though political equality is desirable, mental and social equality is not desirable, even though it were possible....
54. ... With no one fitted to lead, and no one inclined to follow; with no one capable of discovering what inferior minds could appreciate, and what others lower still could accept; with no ambition, no magnanimity, no originality, no eccentricity; with no opposition and no defence - the world would be a dull world, and man would not make that progress for which he was intended by his maker. It is the hope of rising either in wealth, in power, or in knowledge, that is the great stimulant to wealth, to industry, to energy, and to study.
55. ... Whatever may be the working of our present electoral law, no one can shut his eyes to its tendency. Every fresh election will make the majorities more aware of their power, more impatient of contradiction, more arbitrary in their demands, more inclined to pay delegates than to confide in representatives; and in the present state of political knowledge, no more fertile root of corruption and mis-government could be devised than to offer 36 prizes [seats in the legislature] for the loudest declaimers and the most adroit flatterers of the governing classes... ...
[p. 20] When, on the contrary, the majority extinguishes the minority, the evil effects are not so apparent. The body oppressed is smaller-generally wealthier-with many social advantages to draw off attention from the political injustice which they suffer ; but there is the same want of sympathy between class and class -moral courage is rare, talent is perverted, genius is overlooked, education is general but superficial, the press and the pulpit are timid in exposing or denouncing popular errors . average standard of virtue is all that is aimed at, and when no higher mark is set up there is great fear of falling below the average ; property is over- taxed, and the minority exerts no physical force out of doors to induce the lawmakers to care about their claims. Therefore it is incumbent on all democracies to look well that their representative systems really secure the political equality that they all profess to give, for until that is done democracy has had no fair trial.
[p. 22/23]
And South Australia appears to be marked out for the initiating of this greatest political improvement of modern times. Mr. Hare, in Frazer's Magazine for February, 1860, in his article on " Representation in Practice and Theory," thus mentions this colony -
"The earliest conception on record of a system of representation based on a recognition of the varieties of opinion within the same constituency, is believed to be in a paper suggesting a plan for the establishment of municipal government in South Australia. It is said to have proceeded from Mr. Rowland Hill, the Secretary of the Colonization Commissioners. It recommends that the election of Town Councils shall be by voluntary classification of the electors into as many equal quorums as there are members to be elected ; and that each of these who can agree upon an unanimous vote, shall return one member." (1840 Adelaide town council]
58. "Ignorant of Mr. Hill's suggestion, the contributor of this paper, in 1857, published a scheme of parliamentary representation founded on a similar principle.
In single towns when the state of the poll is known by the voters as the election proceeds, this plan presented no difficulty; but in parliamentary elections it afforded no convenient, perhaps no practicable, means of dealing with the vast number of surplus votes which would be given for popular candidates." (Mr. Hare's complete plan was not published till two years later. - See a Treatise on the Election of Representatives, Parliamentary and Municipal, by Thomas Hare, Esq., Barrister-at-Law; Longman's, 1859 - in which every contingency likely to occur in the United Kingdom is provided for.)
59. The scheme of Mr. Hill's alluded to above was not only laid before the Commissioners, but actually carried out in the first election for the Municipal Corporation, and two councillors were returned by two quorums. In one instance the workmen in Messrs. Borrow & Goodear's yard combined to elect their foreman as their representative, and another quorum of citizens chose a councillor for themselves.
[the other 17 were elected by SNTV]
[on Limited Voting and Cumulative Voting]
60. As the power of combination was optional, and as the citizens generally preferred to vote for all the council instead of plumping for one, the division into quorums was never again carried out, and after the extinction of the old corporation, when another Act was passed to reconstruct a municipal body, the original idea was lost sight of and forgotten. It is a pity that such was the case, for if there had been a provision for representing minorities in the corporation, it would not only have improved the municipal body in the first place but it would have familiarized the public with the idea that it was practicable.
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61. The next conception of giving some power to considerable minorities was broached in the Edinburgh Review, and embodied by Lord John Russell in one of his Reform Bills, to divide the country into constituencies to return three members, and to prevent the electors from voting for more than two. [Limited Voting]. This measure was lost by the factious opposition of the Conservatives, who did not appreciate the scope of the idea.
It is an approximation to a true principle of representation of great value ; but unless the voter is allowed to give his two votes for one man [Cumulative Voting], it does not secure the return of one member for a unanimous third part of the constituency. By splitting votes the majority can increase their power.
For instance, in a constituency composed of 900 electors who come to the poll, we will suppose that 600 belong to the majority, and 300 to the minority.
[added info
[14] Mrs Guthrie tells me how it was actually done in three-cornered electorates. Three Liberal candidates were put up. All electors whose initials ran from A - G voted for 1 and 2. All those whose initials ran from G - M voted for 2 and 3 and those who had the following letters as initials voted for 3 and 1. Whether the other side had put up two or three candidates it needed two-fifths to get in any.]
[p. 24]
62. The majority put up three members A, B, and C, the minority combine to return D.
The result of the poll may be this by skilful tactics on the part of the majority: 200 vote for A and B; 200 vote for B and C; and 200 for A and C. Thus the 600 voters give to each of their three men 400 votes, and the minority of 300 cannot get in their man. If each only voted for one man, the principle would be better.
But I cannot say that this principle is at all equal to Mr. Hare's; for minorities of a smaller number than a third have a right to their share in the representation. It is no more just that a fifth or a sixth of the people should be unrepresented than that a third; and I think, that minorities down to a thirty-sixth, have a right to a share of thirty-six representatives.
[In Canadian elections, she would mean that one/34th of Alberta voters should have right to one of Alberta's seat, and 1/121st of Ontario voters would have right to a seat. multiemeber district spitting up a province may have an impact on proportionality as fine as this, though.]
[p. 24]
Another advantage of Mr. Hare's scheme over this of Lord John Russell's is that, by the latter, the contests would be exclusively local, and that every vote taken from one man would be looked on as a gain by another, and so that the electioneering tactics would not be so much elevated as we hope to make them by Mr. Hare's plan.
[p. 24] But the main objection is that it would not give equality of representation; it is not pure democracy, and it is for pure democracy that we contend.
"Democracy," says John Stuart Mill, according to its definition, is the government of the whole people by the whole people equally represented.
Democracy, as commonly conceived and hitherto practised, is the government of the whole people by a majority of the people exclusively represented.
The former is synonymous with the equality of all citizens;
the latter, strangely enough confounded with it, is a government of privilege in favour of the numerical majority, who alone possess practically any voice in the state."
(added info: The late Mr William Sanders. My father David Spence (who died 1846) was Town Clerk at the time and explained the unique clause in the Act to me, then a girl of fifteen.)
63. I wish that we in South Australia may take the proud stand of being the first democracy that would clear up this confusion of ideas, and set about in earnest to the task of reforming itself, and thus wipe off the reproach so liberally bestowed on democracies, that they are incapable of reform.
Let us show the example of being the first community who can appreciate the ideas of the most advanced thinkers in Europe, and within less than three years from the first broaching of the scheme, give it the most careful and impartial consideration.
[Washington and Garibaldi are shining exampes of leadership...]
But another, and a still rarer example it is left for South Australia to showthat if a people, who, entrusted with the framing of their own laws, and already invested with absolute political power upon the principle of majorities ruling, can voluntarily divest themselves of it and submit to the check of the equal representation of minorities; upon the conviction that such exclusive power as they at present possess is unjust in principle and mischievous in tendency.
Thus would they show a path for the civilized world towards the safe extension of the suffrage to its widest limits; thus would they prove by their noble abnegation of the sole power. that majorities are worthy to be entrusted with the supreme power in the State.
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[added info
Some further hand-written notes on the last page referring to elections in Illinois]
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link to Spence's pamphlet
An essay based on Spence's speaking notes in support of PR is also available in the Montopedia blogsite:
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