John D. Hunt
clerk of the Alberta government's Legislative Council
author of The Dawn of a New Patriotism, and other writings on the need for proportional representation.
John D. Hunt The Dawn of a New Patriotism (1917)
...certain devices for improving the structure and methods of government, which have been advanced as likely to help the citizen discharge his duties more efficiently - proportional representation, compulsory voting, initiative and referendum.
The methods of securing proportional representation, while varying in detail, range themelves under two heads - the single transferable voting [STV] and the system of lists.
Single transferable voting was proposed by Hare in 1857 and was supported by John Stuart Mill. Originally it was proposed to treat the whole country as a single constituency, but later advocates have recommended the application of the system to constituencies of more moderate size such as counties and large cities. The mechanism and advantages of the method will best be understood by comparison with the [First past the post in single-member districts].
Suppose the City of Winnipeg to be at present divided into seven single-member constituencies with the result that the majority in each of these constituencies secure a representative, while the minority in each case is unrepresented.
Suppose there are in Winnipeg 40,000 Conservative, 20,000 Liberal and 10,000 Labour voters. It might easily happen that, especially if gerrymandered, the Conservatives would be in a majority in each of these seven divisions, and if so, the 40,000 Conservative electors would obtain the seven seats, and the 30,000 votes none.
Now if Winnipeg had 40,000 voters and no Liberal or Labour voters, the city would be entitled to four Conservative representatives. But because the city has 20,000 Liberal and 10,000 Labour voters, the Conservatives get three more representative [who all happen to be Conservative] thus not only disenfranchising the Opposition but penalizing them. The transferable vote would enable these 70,000 citizens to group themselves into seven sections of equal size, each returning one member, so that there would be four Conservative groups returning four members, two Liberal groups returning two members and one Labour group returning one member, and this is the ideal representation of such a community.
In order to achieve this result, several changes in electoral mechanism are required.
Winnipeg, instead of being divided into seven constituencies, must be polled as one constituency....
to limit the voting power of each elector to one vote.
With open voting [where later voters can see the votes of previous ones] the grouping of electors wold be arranged with comparative ease, for if more electors than were sufficient to constitute one group desired to vote for a particular candidate, thsoe who arrived later at the poll could be asked to give their vote to another candidate, and so help to build up another group of the requisite number. Or if a candidate was seen to be unable to be elected, the small group that had gathered around him could be disbanded and the the voters there could make a new selection from among the other candidates available.
As, however, the ballot is secret and the result of voting is not known until the close of the poll, some provision must be made to facilitate the equal grouping of the electors upon which their fair representation depends.
...a simple device has been adopted...[ranked votes/preferential ballots]
...
The transfer of surplus votes and of votes recorded for candidate lowest on the poll, are all carried out in accordance with the wishes of the electors, as indicated by them on the ballot paper at the time of the poll. The proportional representation of all the electors is secured. Each party obtains the number of members to which it is entitled. (p. 102-105)
..
[In actual fact in 1917 when the Dawn of New Patriotism was published, Winnipeg was a two-member city-wide district for provincial elections. There was little scope for PR but in 1920 Winnipeg was given ten seats and P.R. (STV) was adopted to elect the MLAs there.]
(John D. Hunt lived in Winnipeg before moving to Alberta around 1915. In 1924 he, as clerk of the Alberta government's legislative council, was instrumental in having Alberta adopt STV for election of MLAs in Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat. But now he is little known in Alberta - he is though recorded in the listing of "Memorable Manitobans.")
=====================================
Comentários