Proxy Plan (interactive representation) was proposed for legislatures whereby elected representatives would wield as many votes as they received in previous election.
This was mentioned in an essay in Sanford Fleming's 1893 book Essays on Rectification of Parliament.
Spero Meliora (page 32 to page 38)
Proposed an election system that involved interactive representation (government by proxy) and delegated democracy (votes transferred according to wishes of votes, candidates or combination of both).
Proposes a plan that would ''give the whole people equal representation in Parliament." (page 32)
As, the writer postulates, "an elector should be represented in Parliament by a candidate whom he considers the best for the position and in whom he has implicit confidence," election of representatives through formed consensus under STV is not enough.
Hare STV is greatly preferable to the present system, but STV has weak points.
"Spero Meliora" (a pseudonym) proposed instead a form of party list pro-rep:
Votes would be "added up and divided by the unit of representation the total number of votes cast for the candidates of the different political parties allowing each party its proportionate number of numbers. The objection to this plan is that it would draw the line between the parties even more intensely than at present. It would recognize party distinctions, which is one of the worst features of our political system." (page 32)
[What he or she feared is the obverse of the predicted action of STV. STV is expected to winnow out extreme party candidates and draw parties together. Although election of OBU-friendly candidates in Calgary in 1919 and the election of a Communist in Winnipeg about that time deflate that line of reasoning, unless you say that just by being elected it proves they are not extreme.]
Reforms put into place to secure fair voters list and to prevent employers barring employees from voting.
"A plan for Electoral Representation to work satisfactorily must harmonize with the following propositions:
- That the majority of Parliament represent the majority of the electors.
- That the minority of the electors have a proportionate voice in Parliament.
- That every vote should have its due weight in securing this result.
- That the ordinary elector can easily comprehend and practice the system of voting.
With these objects in view the writer proposes the plan of measuring the voting power of each member by the actual number of votes received, thus securing the principle of a member representing the actual number of electors who vote for him." (page 33)
Votes to be transferred from unsuccessful candidates in direction previously indicated by candidate before election, unless voter marks his single vote to be transferred elsewhere. (Section 9.(1).)
Arbitrary quota of 20 percent of district vote required to be elected. This can be first choice votes or combination of first choice votes and votes transferred as directed from candidates in or outside the district that did not receive 20 percent. Votes transferred away from unsuccessful candidates can go to a candidate outside the district. This breaks down the barrier to joint effort imposed by a district boundary dividing a voting block. Under this system, the voter would have less work than under STV. He does not need to rank candidates. The vote though, unless voter marks other destination, is lumped in with all the other votes the candidate receives. and all are shifted, if necessary, to just one destination. However, if the destination candidate has already been found to have 20 percent of the district vote, unlike STV the votes are shifted to the destination marked for that candidate's transfer and so on and so on until finally the vote finds a home with a successful candidate, either to help elect someone or to add to the candidate's vote tally.
Surpluses (votes over and above the 20 percent quota) are not transferred away. Votes, un-needed for the candidate's election, are not wasted though. They are added to the candidate's tally and go to give him more power in the House, through the Proxy plan described below.
System proposed:
"The name or names of Candidates to whom they are to be counted if the original candidate does not receive 20 percent of the total votes cast in the district either originally or by transference."
Election of any candidates that receive 20 percent of the vote in their respective districts.
Candidates eliminated in order of the district they run (in alphabetical order of name of district).
The only possibility where votes could be wasted is dealt with by this rule:
"Should two candidates who failed to receive the 20 percent quota be mutually mentioned as the alternative of each other on their respective ballots, the votes shall be counted to whichever candidate received the highest number of original votes." (page 37)
The proposal also included provision of Interactive Representation. Under this, the total number of votes received by a member elected after the final apportionment of votes shall be the member's voting power in Parliament. "In all divisions in the House of Commons each member shall vote the number of votes credited to him. The side on any division [vote in the House] that has the highest aggregate number of votes shall be considered a majority of the House." (Section 21 of proposed bill).
This is a form of the Proxy Plan, discussed in a newspaper 20 years earlier. Now it is known as Interactive Representation.Under the plan, the final vote count of the candidates becomes the number of votes they have in council, as the winners become proxies for their supporters. At that time it was described as the only theoretically-exact system of representation proposed yet. (Carroll (Iowa) Herald, April 24, 1872)
The system is simpler than STV. Voters do not need to ran candidates. The only added feature for them over and above FPTP is to consider whether or not the route of vote transfer indicated by their first choice candidate, if the candidate cannot be elected or accumulates surplus, is acceptable. If not, the voter should choose a different first choice candidate or still vote for the candidate but be prepared to write in a different choice on his ballot. Unlike party-list pro-rep it allows flexibility to voters. Voters can have their vote transferred across party lines if desired. Unlike both FPTP and STV, the vote can be transferred to a candidate outside the district. This accomplishes some of the benefits of the multi-member district of STV.
Unusually, the voter and government authorities have no way of knowing how many will be elected in each district. The practical maximum would be four persons but likely would be no more than three. But could also be as few as two or even one perhaps. The uncertainty could be lessened by raising the quota to 26 percent, whereby three at the most could be elected in each district.
The number of seats a party wins would not be evidence of its power. The members would wield not one vote per head in the chamber as current practice but as many "proxy" votes as they accumulated in the election. So if the system was used today, the MPs in the Canadian House of Commons would have some 18M proxy votes.The quota (20 percent) is arbitrary and would be a different number of votes in each district. The use of districts allows different size districts and would allow rural/urban, Centre/hinterland disparity if desired. Gerrymandering is less important because votes can flow across district boundaries. As well, no minorities trapped in districts will be drowned out, and no surplus majorities wasted. No votes would be exhausted under this system.
Every district could elect multiple members depending on the distribution of the vote. So minorities would be represented. A voting block of 20 percent of the voters of a district - the quota of a four-seat STV district - would send a representative to the chamber.
Electing a living breathing representative would not the basis of the election. At least one person would be elected in each district - at least in the present environment. One candidate at least does receive 20 percent of the vote in a district. But that representative would not have just one vote in the chamber – he/she would have as many votes as received in the end.Every vote (eventually) becomes an effective vote.
As for the goal "That the majority of Parliament represent the majority of the electors" is guaranteed. But the standing in the House would not necessarily reflect first choice votes. The flexibility accorded candidates to allocate transfers, and the flexibility accorded voters likewise, would determine the number of proxy votes and they would not be necessarily along party lines of first choice votes. (The same "unproportional" but democratic voting is produced under STV but often overlooked there). For example, if a voter has strong local attachment, he might indicate the possible transfer of his vote to another local candidate of a different party instead of transferring along party lines to a party candidate outside the district. This liberty would safeguard local representation if voters desire.
As well, despite the common idea of majority representation, the majority of seats in the parliament, which are truly elected by a majority of voters, would not be of just one party, that is, unless a single party took a majority of the vote. False majorities would be prevented. No party would have more votes in the chamber than its support warranted.Wrong majorities - where a party with but minority support captured a majority of the seats in the chamber - would also be prevented. The majority under-represented in those cases would itself have the majority of votes in the chamber. Although the majority would be be spread over two or more parties.
Section 21 [Interactive Representation] states "The side on any division [vote in the House] that has the highest aggregate number of votes shall be considered a majority of the House." This is already the working procedure in the House.
It is said that a government needs a majority in the chamber to pass a bill. But this is not established once and then taken as a given. Each bill is voted on by those in attendance at that moment. The term majority really just means more votes than those of the other side. This would be the case too under this plan. If a party receives a majority of the vote after transfers are worked through, it would have a majority of the votes in the chamber. If all its members attended sessions, it would be assured of passing bills.
Members not able to attend a sitting might be paired off with members of the opposing side with the equivalent number of votes who would also abstain from voting to mutually avoid the forfeiture of government. [Such was done in a federal minority government of the 1920s. when a MP did not see that his equivalent was not present and voted by mistake, the government fell.]
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Further research notes follow:
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Peel's Prairie Provinces website
historic newspaper search
keyword: proxy and Election 1871-1913
all I could find were mentions of proxy voting where delegates carried votes for others unable to attend a meeting, which is not the same as the "Proxy Plan" of representation.
Proxy used in university seat elections in Britain
Proxy votes used in Edmonton-area district Liberal conventions (EB, Aug. 31, 1900)
proxy votes also used in election of medical council of Alberta disagreement about whether proxy votes can be open with out direction given to those casting proxy votes. (EB, Oct. 27, 1906)
proxy votes also allowed in city elections husbands of wives who hold property can cast their wives votes by proxy (EB, Dec. 13, 1906) assessor W.J. McMillan
BC Liberal convention, Golden, BC used proxy votes to represent views of those unable to attend the convention. (The Outcrop Jan. 17, 1907)
nomination meeting of MP Wilbert McIntyre in Wetaskiwin saw some vote through proxies (EB, Nov. 21, 1907)
farmers in Camrose used direct and proxy votes to show support for law case being pursued by local farmers (Wetaskiwin Times, March 26, 1908)
1909 amalgamation of AFA and Society of Equity meeting to form the United Farmers of Alberta. vote by proxy was disallowed. (EB, Jan. 14, 1909)
Liberals of the Strathcona Federal constituency voted on candidate to fill seat left empty after death of Wilbert McIntyre (EB, Oct. 1, 1909)
Edmonton District Liberal Convention. Delegates will attend in person and not by proxy EB, Aug. 23, 1911, p. 1
voting at UFA convention is not to be by proxy (GGG, Dec. 20, 1911, p. 16)
GGG, Feb. 26, 1913 Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association convention held at Saskatoon Feb. 12-14, 1913 no proxy voting allowed
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Peel's PP search
proxy and election 1914-1926
1914 petition of 3019 names is creature of ex-mayors who are poor losers (Edmonton Capital, Feb. 19, 1914)
GGG to abolish proxy voting by GGA members (GGG, Jan. 6, 1915)
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Research notes on Proxy Plan (AKA interactive representation)
Another term for the Proxy Plan is interactive representation (Wikipedia: "interactive representation")my wordage:
And the elected members would have relative power in decision making determined by the overall vote they had received from voters.
Proxy Olan described in Grain Growers Guide (GGG) article "Proportional Representation" by Robert Tyson
(GGG, Aug. 7, 1912, page 10, page 33):
Proxy Plan described as "of considerable interest because of its efficiency and simplicity and because the People's Power League of the State of Oregon is going to submit it to a referendum.* The league chose it because it is efficient and it is very easy to explain and fits in well with Direct Legislation. explained by way of example of a municipal election electing seven councillors at-large.
voters rank candidates on ballot, but understanding that his vote will count only for one.
First choice votes are counted and released to the press. put into bundles and collected in central office.candidate having smallest bundle is declared out of the count. and votes transferred to second choice candidates.
"Thus no voter need fear to mark any comparatively weak candidate as his first choice because he knows that his vote will go to a stronger candidate if the first choice is defeated."
"The process of excluding the lowest candidate is continued until only enough candidates remain to fill the seats in the council and these are the elected ones."
"At the close of the transfer there would remain seven elected candidates with varying number of votes. Perhaps two or three popular men having many more than their four or five colleagues. To equalize this each member would be entitled to cast, in a vote in the chamber, as many votes as he received at his election. The theory being that each councillor acts as proxy for those who voted for him."
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*People's Power League of the State of Oregon referendum.
Oregon voted on a combined motion to abolish the senate, use proxy voting [actually Proxy government] and amend constitution in line with ideas of Mr. W.S. U'ren, but it received only 30 percent of the vote and failed to pass. (Wikipedia: "List of Oregon ballot measures")
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1912 Oregon vote
New York Times, June 30, 1912
"Government by Proxy Now. Oregon Pan would Present Ideas of Representative lawmaking"
W.S. U'Ren and other reformers in Oregon were seeking to cap the People's Power League government's series of political reforms with wide-ranging electoral reform in 1912.One of its intents is to "have all the votes cast in any election represented in the legislative assembly by proxy members whose voting power [in the chamber] shall be gauged by the number of electors who voted for them."The plan also included - abolition of the state Senate,- government power to be invested in assembly of 60 members,- state divided into districts but votes able to cross district boundaries,- any 1/60th of the voters in the state voting for one person shall ensure his election,- each voter may cast vote for candidate in the district where he resides or, by writing other name on ballot, for any candidate in the state. "Thus Prohibitionists, Socialists or any other small organization might unite their strength and have all their ballots throughout the state cast for just one candidate. Should such a candidate receive one-sixtieth of the total state vote, he would be declared elected."-
Proxy Plan (government by proxy, now called interactive representation), whereby "on any roll call in the legislature a member casts for or against a measure the total number of votes he had received at the polls.
"- to ensure representation of even those who voted for unsuccessful candidates: unsuccessful candidates for governor would be made ex-officio members of the Assembly. They would have at their disposal all the votes the candidates of their party received in the previous election. - extension of initiative and referendum to municipalities and counties
Aside from the complicated nature of the preceding clauses, other apparently more-contentious items may have helped cause the referendum to fail:
- Assembly is forbidden from paying the cost of preparing petitions under the initiative or referendum
- creation of new counties. (A newspaper account described this as "being intended to permit the popular rulers to cut off certain sections where they are now in a minority"). (New York Times, June 30, 1912, p. 30)
Thanks for reading.
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