Qualified majority voting

“ Neither second ballots nor preferential voting can solve the problem of three parties seeking representation. They may preserve the outward form of the distinguishing characteristic of the present system—that each successful candidate should secure the support of the majority of the electors voting—but this apparent conformity to the requirements of majority representation is only secured at the cost of destroying the sincerity of the parliamentary system and of rendering the composition of the House of Commons still more unstable than it is to-day. ”

“ In all elections, it is always difficult, that more than a few individuals of high position should obtain a majority of the votes of the electorate. Most of those elected have a plurality of votes. To enforce the principle of majority voting, therefore, it requires that the election be repeated again and again and until all the members to be elected have obtained more than half of the votes cast—a thing which becomes the more difficult when it is a matter of electing an assembly of nine persons. ”

“ Liberals, again, feeling the difficulties which have attended the emergence of third-party candidatures in the constituencies, ask for a reform in the method of voting so as to ensure that the member elected for any constituency shall represent a majority of the citizens. ”

“ This custom of declaring successful the candidate receiving a plurality constitutes a defect in our representative system, since a plurality candidate may represent only a small minority of those actually voting.
Several attempts have been made to remedy this defect. In some southern states it is the practice to require an absolute majority for election. If no aspirant receives a majority, a second ballot is taken on the two candidates standing highest on the list. In a number of northern cities, the evil of plurality voting has been attacked through the preferential voting device. ”

“ Even the government of mere numbers requires that every number should tell in proportion to its amount. What is anti-democratic is, that the minority should be allowed to outweigh the majority; but the principle of universal suffrage requires that, as far as is consistent with practicability, every minority in the constituency should be represented by a minority in the representative body; and a mode of voting which does not keep this object in view, is contrary to popular government; it does not sum up the opinion of the community correctly. ”

“ It is, however, sufficient for the purpose of the political organizer to know that a number of the electors will succumb to such influences. The votes of this small section of the electorate can turn the scale at an election, and so long as we adhere to a system under which the whole of the representation allotted to any given constituency is awarded to the party which can secure a bare majority of votes, we must expect to see a progressive degradation of electoral contests. ”

“ They also have to be proclaimed by the Sovereign to become effective. For all not specifically exempted votes the simple majority is required, whereby members of the office that is cause for the vote will abstain from voting. ”

“ When it is stated that a motion requires a two-thirds vote it is meant that the affirmative vote must be at least twice as large as the negative vote in order that the motion may be adopted. The by-laws of an ordinary society should never require for any purpose a vote of a majority or of two-thirds of the members unless they allow voting by mail. The chairman may vote whenever his vote will affect the result. In case of ballot voting, he must vote before the polls are closed. ”

“ Nowadays it is the regular rule that in each State the voting for the presidential electors takes place not in separate districts, but in the mass and by “general ticket,” and these presidential electors make up the college called upon to choose the President of the Union. The candidate who gets a majority even of a few hundred votes in the hundreds of thousands of voters in any State — as was once the case at New York — gets the whole vote of that State. Thus at every election it is a majority of States rather than a majority of voters which decides the victory. ”

“ But if, as this chapter proposes to show, existing electoral methods may result, and have resulted, in a complete travesty of representation, if these methods fail in every respect to fulfil the requirements of a satisfactory electoral system, then neither single-member constituencies nor the majority method of election can be permitted to stand permanently in the way of effective improvement. ”

“ All that is required is a majority vote in the city council, legislature or congress. By this means an advisory-vote system can be established and then the candidates for public office can be pledged to obey the will of their constituents when expressed by referendum vote. This is merely the re-establishment of a direct vote system for instructing representatives—a system as old as representative government itself. The President of the United States is selected through an advisory vote by the people and public questions are also being determined by advisory vote ”

“ The voter in no case is permitted to vote for more than one candidate. Hence each party would be expected to put up as many candidates as it estimated its strength to be in sixtieths of the population. The result is bound to be a minority representation, if there be any substantial minority. To obviate the minority having as much power as the majority each member elected casts as many votes in the legislature as there are voters who cast their ballots for him. ”

“ If either house may reject, or by dissenting cause a rejection, then it is in the power of either house to overthrow the electoral colleges or the popular vote, and throw the election upon the House of Representatives. This, it is clear to me, cannot be lawfully done unless no candidate has received a majority of the votes of all the electors appointed. The sworn duty is to ascertain what persons have been chosen by the electors, and not to elect by Congress. ”

“ If the independence of the legislature was to be maintained, some form of indirect popular choice was favored. But if the people were to elect, the larger States would have a decided advantage. Here was the old question in another form. The electoral scheme finally adopted was essentially a compromise. In most instances—Mason, of Virginia, said nineteen out of twenty times—it was believed that the electors would so scatter their votes [Pg 35] that no candidate would have a majority; consequently the Senate would make a choice from among the five candidates having the highest votes. ”

“ But as a majority of the votes might not always happen to centre in one man, and as it might be unsafe to permit less than a majority to be conclusive, it is provided that, in such a contingency, the House of Representatives shall select out of the candidates who shall have the five highest number of votes, the man who in their opinion may be best qualified for the office. ”

“ When a simple plurality effects an election, 1,000 votes may be so divided upon three candidates as to elect one by 334 votes; or of four candidates, one may be elected by 251 votes, and against the wishes of nearly three-fourths of the electors. An objection to the other mode is, that if no person receives a majority of all the votes, another election must be held. Numerous trials have, in some instances, been necessary to effect a choice; and the people of a district have remained for a time without a representative in the state or national legislature. ”

“ Moreover experience has shown, and it is evident a priori, that with this system the representation of any section of political opinion depends not upon the number of its supporters, but very largely upon the attitude taken towards it by other parties. For, at a second ballot, the result is determined by the action of those smaller minorities which were at the bottom of the poll at the first ballot. No party can be certain of securing representation unless in its own strength it can obtain an absolute majority in at least some of the constituencies. ”

“ In addition to this, it is to be observed that there is a probability of an increase in the number of States, and no provision for a proportional augmentation of the ratio of votes.
But this is not all: what at first sight may seem a remedy, is, in reality, a poison. To give a minority a negative upon the majority (which is always the case where more than a majority is requisite to a decision) , is, in its tendency, to subject the sense of the greater number to that of the lesser. ”

“ I am a Republican because I am in favor of an honest ballot and a fair count. No right-thinking, rightly-educated American citizen will ever grumble at the adverse decision of an honest majority. But if our form of government is to endure, the right of every legal voter to cast one vote for which party he pleases to cast it, and to have that vote counted as it was cast, must be placed beyond doubt or dispute. For nearly ten years past, in 54no less than eight States of this Union, popular elections have been a cheat and a farce. ”

“ By concentrating its votes upon one candidate, an average minority can be sure of at least one representative in each district. A plan employed in several other states likewise aims to give each political party representation proportional to the number of votes cast by the party, regardless of whether the number is a minority or a majority. The principle of proportional representation, if fully worked out, and if made simple enough to be comprehended by the average voter, would insure majority rule and at the same time allow the adequate representation of minorities. ”

“ That’s why, as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, I’m calling on Congress to pass new legislation to make sure every American has equal access to the polls. It’s why I support the organizers getting folks registered in their communities. And it’s why, no matter what party you support, my message to every American is simple: get out there and vote – not just every four years, but every chance you get. Because your elected officials will only heed your voice if you make your voice heard. ”

“ And there would be a constant incentive to the groups to compromise, since a combination can return its candidates.
We hope now to have at least established the fact that the organization of a democracy into two coherent parties—a majority and a minority—is vitally connected with the electoral machinery. We do not claim that the method we have proposed will induce a people to vote on true party lines all at once, for human nature cannot be changed in a day ”

“ Election of representatives in one-member local constituencies by a single vote gives a citizen practically no choice beyond the candidates appointed by the two great party organisations in the State. It is an electoral system that forbids absolutely any vote splitting or any indication of shades of opinion. The presence of more than two candidates introduces an altogether unmanageable complication, and the voter is at once reduced to voting not to secure the return of the perhaps less hopeful candidate he likes, but to ensure the rejection of the candidate he most dislikes. ”

“ The evils of the caucus and primary election systems lie in the stringent obligation which is attached to the will of a formal majority; in the fact that the process of ascertaining what the will of the majority is, has been surrounded with so many restrictions that the actual majority of votes are disfranchised, and take no part in that process, so that the formal majority is in consequence no longer the majority in fact, although it continues to demand recognition of its decisions as such. ”

“ Besides, apart from the fact that it is not known before the election how many seats each party will obtain, it is absolutely necessary that each elector shall have the same number of votes in order that each party be allotted its just share of representation. Moreover it is not proposed to limit the elector's freedom of choice in the slightest by confining him to the candidates of one party. The great majority of electors will vote on party lines, because every vote given to a candidate of the opposing party tells against the representation of their own party. ”

“ The candidate who achieves a majority of 270 or more electoral votes wins the election.
⁠The flaws of such an electoral system are self-evident. First, as the president-elect may not be the winner of the national popular vote, there is a lack of broader representation. Second, as each state gets to decide its own electoral rules, this may create confusion and disorder. Third, the winner-takes-all system exacerbates inequality among states and between political parties. It leads to a huge waste of votes and discourages voter turnout. ”

“ It gives no guarantee that it is really the majority that preponderates. A majority of the nation, if it be a majority in the prevailing party, may outnumber and prevail over a real majority in the nation. Majorities are never sure of outnumbering minorities, unless every elector is counted—unless every man's vote is as effective as any other man's in returning a representative. No system but that which I am submitting to the House effects this, because it is the only system under which every vote tells, and every constituency is unanimous. ”

“ The amendment provides that no person who has voted in a primary election may thereafter be placed on the ballot as an independent candidate in the general election. This is a 'procedure with respect to voting' with substantial impact. One must forego his right to vote in his party primary if he thinks he might later wish to become an independent candidate. ”