Catherine Helen Spence 1825 - 1910
Pioneered Proportional Representation
Effective Voting by C.H. Spence
EFFECTIVE VOTING, or Proportional Representation, means that instead of elections being decided by majorities in small districts, by which nearly half of the votes are wasted, all the votes are to be used in large districts, and the representatives are returned in proportion to the number of voters who hold certain opinions all over the enlarged constituencies. There will not be more members of Parliament elected, probably there will be fewer, under the improved system.
The reasons why we should seek to change our present system are as follow:
- 1. Effective Voting is fair and just.
Under our present system a very few votes, even one single vote more, given to two candidates than to the others makes these men represent the district. Those who did not vote for them are unrepresented--indeed, they are misrepresented by men of different convictions and aims. Under the Hare-Spence system every vote counts for some one the elector approves of.
- 2. Effective Voting is peaceful.
As no vote counts against any one--as no two or three votes can make thousands of votes useless, the bitterness of party strife will be lessened. Under our present method the business of party politicians and election committees is to make all votes ineffective but those given to their particular favorites. Under a system of absolute fairness each party will get the representation its numbers entitle it to--no less and no more.
- 3. Effective Voting is honest.
Bribery and undue influence is often successful in securing as many votes as change a minority into a majority. No one would be foolish enough to bribe under the Hare-Spence system, because each bought vote would only count one in a quota of thousands.
- 4. Effective Voting is educative to the electors.
Instead of having to choose from four or five candidates, generally representing two parties only, the electors would have a choice of a dozen or more; and of these there is sure to be some worth voting for. There would always be independent candidates, so that that large body of opinion in every constituency, which cannot endorse extreme party views, would be represented. When independent candidates have a fair chance of election, independent thought will be strengthened all over the country.
- 5. Effective Voting would moralise the candidates.
Instead of keeping back his real opinions, lest he should risk losing votes, the candidate would be encouraged to speak out the best that is in him to attract those who think with him, or who may be persuaded to think with him. If these are the sixth part of a six-member district or a tenth part of a ten-member district, he would be returned as their representative though all the rest differed from him. No one who has not watched the dodges and evasions of candidates and their committeees can estimate the elevation of the character of public men if this cut-throat competition for votes were put an end to.
- 6. Effective Voting will be cheaper for the country.
The enlargement of the districts will greatly lessen the demand for the expenditure of public money for localities. It lowers the character of our Ministries to sanction unwise expenditure of public money in order to keep or to win the votes of the members for the district to be benefited.
The only argument against the reform is that it is new and untried, except in Switzerland. The real opposition comes from the rival parties, which fear that a system of perfect righteousness would diminish their strength. They know the present system and can pull the ropes, and they do not want independent representatives who cannot be relied on in the day of battle.
But representation was not meant to be "War by Election." Its true meaning, that the elected body--the Parliament--should be the mirror of the convictions and aspirations of the whole people, has been clouded by this majority fight. Inside Parliament the majority vote must decide--but for the composition of Parliament itself, we must have equitable representation of all opinions and of all classes.
I appeal to the new voters--the women--to change neck-to-neck competition for all or nothing in our present districts, into a peaceful co-operation. Thus, too, the women will not only have a vote, but an effective vote, neither wasted in useless majority nor extinguished in a defeated minority.
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