Preferential Voting - - What it Means "
TT WAS back in the spring of ’37 that Oregon’s
A ASUO executive committee became reform-con
scious in the matter of the election setup. Emer
ald Editor Fred Colvig was a member of the coun
cil, then headed by ASUO Prexy Gib Schultz, and
in the election day issue of the Emerald wrote an
article explaining the complicated preferential
balloting system.
Sunday night, Oregon’s 1942 exec committee
called together the candidates for this y'ear’s elec
tion and Dr. Fred Cahill of the political science
department outlined the voting method in order
to avoid post-election grumbling.
For the benefit of those who do not understand
the distribution of votes under the preferential or
proportional balloting system, excerpts from Ed
itor Colvig’s article of 1937 are printed here today.
It is only fair to add that Fred Colvig, visit
ing on the campus Sunday, admitted that if asked
now how it worked he’d never be able to tell any
body.
Proportional Representation
Bv FRED COLVIG
rJAfIE assortment of the four successful candi
dates to their respective offices on the execu
tive committee will be taken care of in (the ASTTO)
election by the procedure of preferential ballot
ing, which is a feature of the . . . electoral setup.
The successful candidate with the greatest num
ber of first choices will at that time be pronounced
.president; the one one with the second highest
number of first choices will be first vice- presi
dent, etc.
The preferential balloting method is described
in the ASUO by-laws substantially as follows. Each
voted will be given a ballot containing the names
of the candidates, with a blank space beside each
one. In these squares the voter will put number
indicating the order of his preference for the dif
ferent candidates, puting down as many choices
in “1-2-3 order” as he wishes. The voting itself
will be simple; it is in the subsequent tabulation of
the ballots that the procedure becomes relatively
complicated, but even that is not so difficult to
grasp.
Figuring the Quota
THIRST of all, when the polls have been closed"
and the ballots are all in, the tabulators will
figure out what in the lingo of proportional repre
sentation is known as the ‘'quota,” which is the
least number of votes through which a candidate
can be elected. This is ascertained by dividing the
total number of votes cast by a number one greater
than the number of offices to be filled and adding
one to the resulting quotient. Thus, if there are
1500 votes cast and there are four offices to fill,
the “quota” will be obtained by dividing 1500 by
five and adding one, giving 301.
Then the tabulators will sort all the ballots in
piles according to the first choices indicated. The
ballots on which Joe Blow is given first choice
will be put in one stack; the ballots on which Joe
Doakes is given first choice will be put in an
other stack, etc. Following this, the ballots will
be counted and each candidate will be credited
with the number of first choices he has gained. If
the number of first choices received by any can
didate is equal to, or exceeds the “quota,” which
is, let us say, 301, he will at once be declared
elected.
Still using the “quota” of 301 as an example,
suppose a candidate receives more than that num
ber. As stated in the preceding paragraph, he will
be considered elected. But, tinder the system of
proportional representations, these surplus bal
lots will not be tvasted. From such a successful can
didate \s pile of votes a number of ballots equiva
lent to the surplus will be drawn, and the second
choices indicated on these ballots will be credited
to the candidates who are still in the running but
not yet elected. If the addition of these second
choice ballots to any candidate's pile raises his
total to 301 votes, he will be declared elected.
‘Breaking Down’ the Vote
rJ~'IIEN, after all of the first-choice ballots have
been distributed, the candidate with the least
number of votes will be declared defeated; and his
ballots will be distributed, each one going to the
“continuing candidate ’ indicated as next choice.
A “continuing candidate” is one not yet elected
or defeated.
If this transfer of the “defeated candidate’s”
ballots raises the total of another candidate’s votes
over the “quota,” lie will be pronounced elected.
After this has been done, if there have not been
four candidates elected, again the one with the
lowest number of votes will be considered defeat
ed, and his ballots will be transferred to the
“continuing candidates.” This procedure of delat
ing the lowest candidate and giving his votes to
the others who are still in the running will be
continued until the election is ended.
The election will be ended when four candidates
have reached the “quota,” or when the total num
ber of “continuing candidates” has been re
duced by the process of defeating to four, the num
ber of offices to be filled.
Take Office in Order
^^ND. as explained at the first of this article, tin1
successful candidates will take positions on
the executive committee of the ASUO in the order
of the number of first choices they receive in the
initial sorting of the ballots. *
There is nothing complicated about this new
system of proportional representation if one
but turns his mind to i.t Experts in governmental
science hold it out as the ideal method of electing
a body such as a city council, to which, of course,
the student executive committee is exactly analo
gous.
Proportional representation, just as its naine
and third choices effective through its preferen
tial balloting feature, means the end of machine
politics on this campus, just as it has in city gov
ernment. No longer will any party machine,
through controlling a bare majority of the votes,
be able to grab all student offices for its partisans.
Proportional representation, just as its nan**
implies, means that all groups among A!S1T0 mem
bers henceforth shall have a voice in student gov
ernment in proportion to their numbers.
tyalAe cM-afie . . .
This is No Picnic -
Despite Paper Headlines
... A J.04Uf MKW
By DON TREADGOLD
We do not recommend that everyone worry all day and
have nightmares all night about the war. But it might help if
a lot of people got a little healthier sense of proportion as
to what is going on. The fact that many of us have a somewhat
distorted perspective of events may be in large part blamed
on the newspapers.
Says Letter - to - the - Editor
Writer J. W. Reeves- in the last
Time. For some time it has
appeared to me that the newspa
pers are unintentionally doing the
country ... a disservice in play
ing up without warrant and out
of all proportions the few suc
cesses that we have so far had
in this war . . . when the truth
comes out, the country will blame
the military services and will lose
confidence in them and possibly
in itself.”
The Answer
To which Time’s editors rejoin
pithily: “One big trouble has been
that few editors know as much
about war as their sportswriters
know about sport.” An example
is the front page bearing the
black headlines, "Jap Ship Sunk
by Yanks” while down in the cor
ner we learn of “Ten American
Tankers Lost” or “Japs Seize
New Island Group.”
We may rejoice over the hero
ism of the A.V.G. pilots in Bur
ma, but we may not read down
far enough that the Chinese
troops in Burma are bombed at
will by the Japs, and must repel
mechanized onslaughts on land
and by air without planes or ar
tillery. The headlines declare
“100.000 Germans Trapped,’’ a
cock-and-bull story anyway, while
it is not mentioned that the So
viets have failed to recapture the
major Nazi strong points from
which Hit'er will start his spring
drive. "Malta Holds” may only
mean that tomorrow Malta may
fall. “Yugoslav Guerillas in Bold
Raid” does not disclose that Gen
eral Mihailovitch and his men are
desperately in need of food and
supplies for the want of which
they cannot long keep resisting.
No Picnic
What the Allies really face this
spring is no bedtime story. With
40 per cent of her industrial
plant in Nazi hands, Russia is not
in a comfortable spot. Despite the
best Soviet efforts and the Rus
sian winter, the main Nazi line
is unbreached and German tanks
will soon begin to roll again. It
is absolutely vital to the Allies
that Russia hold, but if Hitler is
prevented from reaching Cauca
sus oil, it will surely be in defi
ance of military mathematics. In
dia, which now declares it will de
fend itself, is in reality well-nigh
defenseless.
The Allies won't collapse this
(Please turn to page six)
Nothing
Sacred
By J. SPENCER MILLER
Being as the baseball season is
open and we’re really a sports
writer doing a poor job of writ
ing a gossip column we are going
to pick an all-girls baseball team
for beauty—which is about as
silly an idea as most of the others
being passed about the campus—•
Atanyrate . . .
Pitcher—Peggy Itlepper, Kap
pa.
Catcher — BeeLoo Brugman,
Theta.
First base —- Rozzy Morrill,
Dee Gee.
Second Base — —Jeanne Hines,
DeeGee.
Shortstop—Adele Canada, Al
pha Fee.
Third Base — Neida liohrbaek,
Alpha Chi.
Left field — Mary Jane Dunn,
Tri Delt.
Centerfield — Nancy Lewis,
Chi O.
Right field — Verlie Myers, Pi
Phi.
And to manage this $$$$ bevy
of talent Hen hall's Jean Spearow,
wh® could probably out-talk any
one we know.
Both Independent and ADS
dances showed plenty of hustle—
There were a lot of guys and gals
that like Hal Hardin a lot better
than Ole Faithful Art Holman—
Plenty of ATOs and Fijis showed
up . . . Fijis on the stag line and
the ATOs with dates—One Kappa
had an Independent sticker right
above her Kappa key (Don't wor
ry, Les, they're not bolting the
(Please turn lo page six)
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