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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1952)
Back in the Good Old Days TIIK IMVKIIm i > near the turn of the century, watt wtill quite small. Villard hall, on the reft, ani Deady hall, the first building; on the cam pus, were the main classroom buildings. On the far right is the president’s house. Preferential Voting System Reviewed (Ed. note: Kor the |»ant sev eral year*, all AKL'O election* and (lam rlrdlunn have Ix-en held under the preferential vot ing nj'ttrm. In this article, the system In explained.) By Al Karr Preferential voting, under ASUO senate investigation after Thurs day night's senate action, has a fair measure of complication, im portant advantages, and accord ing to recent complaints certain disadvantage*. Current dissatisfaction with the system, at Oregon since 1937, fcrosc from the fact that presiden tial candidates garnered all four freshman class positions in the freshman elections last week. All were men. This was the result of the "single transferable vote" prin ciple of preferential voting. The best way to explain how the system works is to use this year's freshman elections as an example. First, though the presidential and vice-presidential candidates were listed before the candidates for lepresentative, all 2.1 candidates were in competition for one of the four positions open, under the preferential system variation used by Oregon. Masked by I “reference Preferential ballots were mark ed, according to preference, 1, 2, 3. 4. 5 -towards 25, for as many Candidates as the voter wished. In determining who is elected, the total ballots are counted. Last week there were 525 valid ballots. Then the "quota" the total num ber of votes necessary to elect a candidate is determined: 1. Take the number of positions open (4i. 2. Add 1 (making 5). 3. Divide the ballots cast (525) by the figure (5), (making 105). 4. Add 1. The quota is 106. Logic of the method is to obtain the smallest number of votes which will elect only four candi dates. The number "1" votes are count ed first. If any candidate has the quota on this count, he is elected. The person with the most number “1" votes is president, the second person is vice-president, and the next two are representatives, pro viding all four have the quota. More Distributing If less than four, but at least one, office is filled on the first count, then the re-distributing pro cess begins. The elected persons' extra (above the quota) ballots are distributed according to the number “2” votes. Those candi dates then having the quota are elected, and their excess ballots are re-distributed according to the number "3" votes, and the process continues in this fashion. If, before the four offices are filled, a re-distribution step leaves on new quota for a candidate, re ’distribution is handled from the bottom. The ballots of the person with the fewest ballots are re-dis tributed according to number “2" votes. 1/ no new quota is obtained. | the ballots of the candidate who now has the fewest ballots are re : distributed, and so on. The process continues until four persons, in this example, have the quotu. If all ballots are finally dis | tributed or exhausted (ballots are j exhausted when they cannot be ! distributed to anyone because the voter did not vote for enough peo 1 pie). and one office, for example, ; is still to be filled, then the only ! candidate remaining is elected, | even though he does not have the quota. In the actual freshman election, | President Bob Glass had more than the quota on the first count; Vice president John Tonack received the quota on the first re-distribii tion, Representative Bob Bosworth . on a later re-distribution, and Rep 1 resentative Jim Light was the last candidate in the race, having 69 ballots to Neil Meuiler's 68. feed by ASliO In spring term ASUO elections, the above system is used for presi dent-viec-president-senate-at -large voting, and separately for each class ballot. Important advantage of the sys tem. as Donald M. DuShane, direc tor of student affairs, points out, is that it represents the minority according to the strength of the minority, rather than "freezing it out". "If a group gets a major ity of the votes,” he said, “they should have a majority on the sen ate (for example), but they don't have to hog it all." Disadvantages The disadvantage of the system when the field isn't narrowed down by political parties (as it is in spring elections, and as it wasn't in the freshman election), is that presidential candidates only', may be elected to all positions which many consider unfair—and, as a corollary, women may be frozen out of any office, DuShane ex plained. This situation is reflected in the ( Please Turn to Page 16) DADS SHOULD HEAR . . . our greetings to them for Dad's Day! They should hear their radio, too. If it’s on the blink, stop here. “We Fix ’em'” Endicott's Radio Service Flowers.... of distinction For EVERY Occasion CHASE FLOWERS 58 E. Broadway Phone 4-1543 The world’s highest waterfall is in Angel Falls in eastern Vene zuela, hemmed by jungle in a can yon seen by a few men. Spurting from a cliff more than half a mile high, water falls free for 2,648 feet, then crashes on for a total drop of 3,212 feet. This is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls. Detachments of U. S. 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