According to this plan, the unit of representation, the quota of
electors who would be entitled to have a member to themselves, would
be ascertained by the ordinary process of taking averages, the number
of voters being divided by the number of seats in the House; and every
candidate who obtained that quota would be returned, from however
great a number of local constituencies it might be gathered. The votes
would, as at present, be given locally; but any elector would be at
liberty to vote for any candidate, in whatever part of the country he
might offer himself. Those electors, therefore, who did not wish to be
represented by any of the local candidates, might aid by their vote in
the return of the person they liked best among all those throughout
the country who had expressed a willingness to be chosen. This would
so far give reality to the electoral rights of the otherwise virtually
disfranchised minority. But it is important that not those alone who
refuse to vote for any of the local candidates, but those also who
vote for one of them and are defeated, should be enabled to find
elsewhere the representation which they have not succeeded in
obtaining in their own district. It is therefore provided that an
elector may deliver a voting paper containing other names in addition
to the one which stands foremost in his preference. His vote would
only be counted for one candidate; but if the object of his first
choice failed to be returned, from not having obtained the quota, his
second perhaps might be more fortunate. He may extend his list to a
greater number in the order of his preference, so that if the names
which stand near the top of the list either can not make up the quota,
or are able to make it up without his vote, the vote may still be used
for some one whom it may assist in returning. To obtain the full
number of members required to complete the House, as well as to
prevent very popular candidates from engrossing nearly all the
suffrages, it is necessary, however many votes a candidate may obtain,
that no more of them than the quota should be counted for his return;
the remainder of those who voted for him would have their votes
counted for the next person on their respective lists who needed them,
and could by their aid complete the quota. To determine which of a
candidate's votes should be used for his return, and which set free
for others, several methods are proposed, into which we shall not here
enter. He would, of course, retain the votes of all those who would
not otherwise be represented; and for the remainder, drawing lots, in
default of better, would be an unobjectionable expedient. The voting
papers would be conveyed to a central office, where the votes would be
counted, the number of first, second, third, and other votes given for
each candidate ascertained, and the quota would be allotted to every
one who could make it up, until the number of the House was complete;