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Tom Monto

Matthias N. Forney's book Proportional representation (1900) raises good points

Updated: May 22, 2021

Here are some notes from

Matthias N. Forney's book Proportional representation - a means for the improvement of municipal government with reports on the constitutionality in NY of a system providing for minority representation. 1900 .

[Hathi trust has readable copy online] Proportional Representation is advocated - first, because it is fair and just to all parties, and - second, because it is believed that it would promote the cause of good government.

[This last point is particularly salient as the base of Canada's constitution is "Public Order and Good Government"!] [p. 13-14] under FPTP there is no way by which two, three or more minorities in contiguous districts can so unite their votes as to be effective in electing one or more candidates.

Pro-rep can accomplish this by abandoning the system of electing single representatives from comparatively small districts and substituting for it the election of a number of members - three, five, seven or perhaps more - on a general ticket in larger districts formed either by the consolidation of smaller ones or by redistricting the territory in which elections are held. This does not mean as is often hastily inferred that the total number of representatives who are to be elected in a city will be increased or that the number of councilmen who will be chosen in that way will be greater than the present number. the plan contemplated the enlargement of districts so the new enlarged district wold then include the same area as the existing small one as together now do. the total number of reps wold remaining the same for the given area but under the new system several would be elected in each of the enlarged districts on a general ticket instead of one only in each of the smaller districts as at present. Of course the total number of reps in a city is arbitrary in either case and might be increased or diminished with either method of election. p. 14 the Illinois system of election (Cumulative Voting (CV)) "each voter may cast as many votes for one candidate as there are candidates to be elected, or may distribute the same or equal parts thereof among the candidates as he shall see fit and the candidates highest in votes shall be declared elected." thus election of three votes can place all three votes with one candidate or give 1.5 votes to two different candidates or give one vote to each of three candidates. any party in the district having more than one quarter of the votes will be elected in spite of anything the majority, if there is one, can do. p. 15 list of advantages of Cumulative Voting similar to list of advantages of STV

... 9. it makes successful revolt against bad nominations.

(This list was copied into Pro-Rep Review Dec. 1903)

defects of Cumulative Voting first off, it wastes many votes as voters cannot know beforehand if whether they are casting more votes for a favourite candidate than he will need to be elected. In England where CV is used for election of school boards, sometimes a favoured candidate received as much as five times the number required to win. This then means that some obscure and incapable candidate then is elected by comparatively few votes. ------------- Forney states that a system of CV has been created that avoids this waste: under CV when parties self manage and only put up the number of candidates that they think can win, a nomination is tantamount to election. By careful use of the vote, according to party directions the election goes just as party bosses expect it to.

But this occurs also under FPTP in districts where one party has considerable preponderance. p. 21 [computer 29/82] CV sometimes sets candidates of the same party against each other, as in tight races. it is easier to take from a "running mate" than from among the supporters of an opposition party.. flawed as CV is, the adoption of CV in Illinois has put into successful practice the important principle of the election of several members in districts on a general ticket and by quotas of votes less than a majority or plurality of all, which is the basis of pro-rep.

However CV, operating as it does at the district level, does not ensure fair representation of dispersed voting blocks. The People's Party and the Prohibitionists each have enough votes across the state of illinois to elect 10 and three, respectively, but elected none.

The obvious cure is to enlarge the districts still more, so as to elect either five or seven representatives or possibly more from each. It would then be in power of any voting block in a district greater than a sixth or an eighth of the district votes or a still smaller proportion to elect one candidate. This would give still more freedom of choice and more independence in the election of members than Illinois voters now have but would probably increase the waste of votes.

There has been devised a system that obviates these difficulties and also has all the advantages of CV.

The system elects multiple members in each district and each voter can cast as many votes as there are open seats.

The votes cast for each candidate on a party slate are counted and divided among the party candidates, the average vote total of each party is compared. If two seats, a single party would receive both seats if its average is more than twice the average of the other party, U.S. politics being basically a two-party contest. But if the number of votes of a minority party is greater than half the votes of the majority party, the minority is entitled to one member and the majority to the other.

Where three seats are open, the majority party is given all three unless the average of the minority party is more than the average of the majority party, in which case the minority party gets one seat.

Thus we have divided the number of votes of each group successively among one, two and three candidates and have then selected the quotients in the order of their magnitude and allotted to the party for whose votes the largest quotient has been derived the first member, to the next largest the second and to the third largest the third. [this is expressed in Rule 3 on page 26] If candidates of a party cannot be elected because the party is not allocated the same number of seats as the party's candidates, the candidates are eliminated and their votes transferred based on preferences marked on the ballot. (ranked ballots)

complicated transfers then calculated. p. 35 to choose who is elected, first and second choices are added together with each second preference being worth one-half of a first preference, and so on for subsequent preferences if required. p. 36 effect is to give minority parties a representation in proportion to their strength but it will also give any considerable group consisting of a quota of voters within a party but who for any reason may be differentiated from the majority therein, the power of electing a candidate of their own. [p. 38] number of seats per district. if the number of candidates on a ticket exceed seven, few would take sufficient interest in the matter to make a selection...

it is not essential that the same number of members should be elected in all districts. A smaller number might be chosen in those in which the population is materially less than in others. the purpose of pro-rep is not to break up parties but to strengthen them, by establishing justice and freedom within their lines, and if these are denied to voters inside of party restrictions, to give them liberty outside, such as by allowing them to vote for independent candidates. p. 39 Any system of pro-rep would result in making candidates both before and after election, independent of a popular majority. Such candidates cold seek the support and be elected by a constituency of their own who wold have it in their power to re-elect them and keep them in office, which would secure greater permanences of office and service to experienced legislators. Forney pointed out that minorities to find representation under pro-rep include "men of high intelligence and sturdy character" as well as great body of labouring masses, both of which are often disenfranchised under FPTP. He observed that men of independent thought, thorough instruction and high morality are the natural allies of the humble and the wronged. p. 41 It is believed that the reason why city councils are corrupt and debased, is because the intelligent, honest and worthy voters in the community are not free and have not under the present system the power to select and elect men who would satisfactorily represent their opinions and interests. 41-2 some say pro-rep is just a fad but in reply to this it may be said that the rudimentary form of pro-rep adopted in Illinois has been in practical use in the election of the members of one branch of the state legislature for 28 years.


It has also been used in Denmark, Tasmania, Belgium and in election of school boards in England. p. 42 how it would work p. 44 Effects - representation of all parties in proportion to their strength

- voters freed from the tyranny of the caucus and machine politics - produces a body composed of representatives of the substantial elements of society a deliberative body far beyond what we are in the habit of seeing, in point of ability and character, embracing a much greater ranger of knowledge and experience and embodying a much greater variety of opinion and conviction. [p. 46] a body truly representative and containing within itself the accredited agents of all parties and interests need not look to the newspapers or to lobbyists for facts and for arguments. p. 48 majorities must rule voice of "righteous remnant" outline of bill for the election of members of a municipal council ... [p. 53-61] reports on the constitutionality in New York of a system providing for minority representation or minority voting [this is the D'Hondt method, used in Belgian elections.] under this system, parties run full slates. CV and the D'Hondt method both use multi-member districts. They give to voters liberty in the selection not only of parties but of candidates of the different parties and in voting each voter should be able to choose and express his preferences for candidates within the party and that such preferences should be effective in their election. (p. 28) p. 28 CV system used in Illinois discourages full slates as there is no sharing of votes among a party's candidates. Forney p. 29 "if a party is free to nominate as many candidates as there are members to be elected, without any risk of diminishing its strength thereby the different interests and opinion of voters would be quite sure to be represented on the party ticket. Each of the parties would be very certain to nominate one or more candidates to represent the interests of say the workingmen, the taxpayers, the landlords and the tenants, the saloon and the anti-saloon people and other interests and opinions.

We will have candidates who are well educated, self-made men trained in the school of practical life, horny-handed sons of toil and professional men, the purpose of the plan being to give voters perfect freedom of choice and enable them to express their preference for candidates of their own or of other parties."

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So hopefully that gives you an idea of the span and depth of analysis of proportional representation in existence even 120 years ago.

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