PREFERENTIAL VOTING IN PRACTIC.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13226, 21 September 1908, Page 6

PREFERENTIAL VOTING IN PRACTIC.

The discussion that has taken placo over the Government's amendment of the electoral law has shown that many people would have preferred some system of preferential voting instead of the foreign second ballot. They can certainly claim that tho system they advocate is the cheaper and more expeditious of the two, and that it is more efficient than the second ballot, in that it allows of the more accurate representation of the political opinions of a constituency. As it happens, preference voting has been given a trial during tho last ten days, in the elections for a new Parliament in West Australia. The closing of the nominations showed that the system would operate in thirteen out of tho fifty constituencies, these having threo or more candidates. There are several varieties of preference voting, and West Australia chose one which corresponds very closely with that contained in Mr McNab's Absolute Majority Bill. The voter was to express his preference by placing numerals according to the number of candidates against each name on the voting paper. His first choice was to (be No. 1, tho man he would prefer if his selected candidate were beaten would be No. 2, and so on. In counting the votes, any candidate for whom an absolute majority of electors voted would Of course be elected, and the preference votes would bo disregarded. If, however, no ono had an absolute majority, then the candidate lowest on the list would be ruled out, " and his second preference votes allotted to the remaining candidate in " due order. If no candidate then has "an absolute majority tho process is "continued till an absolute majority " is obtained." The effectiveness of the system, so far as it exists, ia weakened, to our mind, by it being optional. As was the case with Mr McNab's Bill, the West Australian voter could "plump" for his selected candidate if he chose, or ho could indicate his preference for two or three or all ot the candidates. His voting-paper would not be invalidated by his neglect to use up all his preference votes, and therefore it would be impossible to arrive at any perfectly clear expression of the political feeling in any constituency in which tho system was employed. That is the experience of Queensland, where tho preference vote is optional. We have yet to learn how it worked on the whole. West Australia is a country of vast distances and widely scattered population. The distribution of seats is not arranged, as in New Zealand, on a population basis, and thus while North Perth has nearly 8000 voters, the member for Pitbarra has only 1022 constituents and tho member for Roebourno only 753, In these distant and sparsoly-sattlecl coiMtituaneies the time for the roturn of the writs has been extended, and though most of tho election results are already known, it will be close to the end of October before tho last is announced. Sir Joseph Ward, it will he remembered,

opposed the absolute majority system, inferring that it would puzzle the electors. In that, ivc think, he did scant justice to tho intelligence of tho community. It will be interesting to see how the West Australian elector deals with the not very complicated method of voting.