METHODS OF VOTING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22900, 1 December 1937, Page 12

METHODS OF VOTING

Little inducement was needed to start a discussion of voting methods when the Electoral Amendment Bill was being debated by the House of Representatives yesterday. It can be said broadly that the subject interests politicians more than it does the people, but it is still of some concern to the electorate. Parliament does not seem at present to contain any enthusiasts for proportional representation. It was once included in the Labour platform, but was dropped some time ago; and to judge by what Mr. J. A. Lee said, it was discarded without regret. A very strong theoretical case can be made for proportional representation, but its merits are too severely mathematical to rouse much popular enthusiasm, and there is a general tendency to question whether it brings practical benefits equal to its theoretical advantages. Preferential voting is a much less complex and far more rough and ready variant of the first past the post method. While well behind proportional representation as a scientific and mathematical means of trying to assess the wishes of an electorate, it can perhaps be , described as something better than the second ballot of unhallowed memory in New Zealand. It seems to work quite well in Australia, where it has long been in use, particularly for the election of the Federal House of Representatives. Its chief merit, perhaps, is that it allows the single member constituency to be retained, and can thus replace the first past the post system without any disturbance of the geographical system of representation. Whether New Zealand really wants it, or is ripe for its introduction, is an entirely open question. If new parties arise, or the crop of independent candidates increases, it may be necessary to consider some variant of the present method of election. If so, the change to preferential voting would be the simplest to make.