(a) If any candidate for an office receive a majority of the first choice votes he shall be declared nominated for such office. (b) If no candidate is thus nominated, drop the name of one having the least number of first choice votes and add the second choice votes cast by his supporters to the first choice votes of the remaining candidates for whom they were cast. (c) If no candidate then has a majority, drop from the remaining candidates the one having the least number of votes then to his credit, and add the second choice votes cast by his supporters to the votes of the remaining candidates for whom they were cast. (d) Repeat this operation until some candidate has a majority or until two (2) candidates remain. The one then having the greater number of votes to his credit shall be declared nominated. (e) No second choice vote shall be counted when it is cast for a candidate whose name shall have been dropped as herein provided. (f) Any tie shall be decided by lot by the canvassers. The person receiving the highest vote at such primary as the candidate of any party for any office, determined under these rules, shall be the nominee of that party and his name placed upon the ballot at the following election. The delegates to a national party convention shall be instructed and it shall be their duty to cast their votes as a unit for the candidate receiving the highest preference in the primary as long as his name is before the convention. This also is substantially the Ware System. Provisions for second choice nominations are also found in the laws of Minnesota, Alabama, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Idaho, and follow very closely the provisions quoted above. VIII. SUMMARY. 1. When the ordinary ballot is used, the system of election by majority and the system of election by plurality are both subject to serious drawbacks. In the first case, a failure to elect is possible; in the second case, the person elected may be the choice of a minority among the voters. 2. The preferential ballot is a device for securing from each voter an expression of his entire opinion concerning the candidates, and not merely an indication of his first choice among them. 3. There are different systems of preferential voting, the differences being not so much in the form of the ballot as in the methods of counting them. 4. The preferential system is used in more than forty American cities, including such large municipalities as San Francisco, Cleveland and Denver. 5. In 1915 a joint special committee of the Massachusetts Legislature recommended that cities of the Commonwealth, other than Boston, should be allowed to adopt the system of preferential voting for city elections. The Legislature did not accept this recommendation. 6. Two Massachusetts cities, Newton and Gloucester, have been authorized by statute to use preferential voting at municipal elections. 7. The preferential ballot, in a somewhat modified form, has been used at primary elections in several states of the Union. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Bacon, E. M., and Wyman, M. Direct Elections and Law Making by Popular Vote. Boston, 1912. Equity. Department of Preferential Voting. Published Quarterly. Hoag, C. G. Effective Voting: an article on preferential voting and proportional representation. Washington, 1914, 63d Congress, 2d Session, Senate Doc. 359. Hull, R. M. "Preferential Voting and How it Works." National Municipal Review (1912), I, 386. Johnson, L. J. "Preferential Voting." (1914), III, 83. National Municipal Review American Political Lowrie, S. G. "Second Choice Nominations." Science Review (1911), V, 600. Porter, M. P. "Preferential Voting and the Rule of the Majority." Na tional Municipal Review (1914), III, 581. Ashley, R. L. "Preferential Voting." Cyclopedia of American Government, III, 633. |