[EM] Fw: Roots of STV and Proxy Delegation

[Terry Bouricius]

Some interesting history...

I was recently sent a chapter from the book _Proportional Representation_
written by Clarence Hoag and George Hallet and published in 1926.

The first inventor of STV apparently (though with repeat voting rather
than ranked ballots) was Thomas Wright Hill. He devised the election
system used by the Society for Literary and Scientific Improvement in
1821. The overlap between STV and Proxy Voting is apparent in this quote
from those bylaws...

"At the first meeting in April, and also in October, a Committee shall be
elected, which shall consist of at least one-fifth of the members of the
Society. The mode of election shall be as follows: A ticket shall be
delivered to each member present, with his own name at the head of it,
immediately under which he shall write the name of the member whom he may
wish to represent him in the Committee. The votes thus given shall be
delivered to the president, who, after having assorted them, shall report
to the meeting the number of votes given for each nominee. Every one who
has five votes shall be declared a member of the Committee; if there are
more than five votes given to any one person, the surplus votes (to be
selected by lot) shall be returned to the electors whose name they bear,
for the purpose of their making other nominations, and this process shall
be repeated until no surplus votes remain, when all the inefficient votes
shall be returned to the respective electors, and the same routine shall
be gone through a second time, and also a third time if necessary; when if
a number is elected, equal in all to one-half of the number of which the
Committee should consist, they shall be a Committee; and if at the close
of the meeting the number is not filled up, by unanimous votes of five for
each member of the Committee, given by those persons whose votes were
returned to them at the end of the third election, then this Committee
shall have the power, and shall be required, to choose persons to fill up
their number; and the constituents of each member so elected shall, if
necessary, be determined by lot. The President, Secretary, and Treasurer,
all for the time being, shall be members of the Committee, ex-officio,
whether elected or not. In the intervals between the general elections, it
shall be competent to any four members of the society, by a joint
nomination, in a book to be opened for the purpose, to appoint a
representative in the ensuing Committee; such appointment being made shall
not be withdrawn, nor shall the appointees give any vote in the choice of
a Committee-man, as such, until after the next election. A register shall
be kept by the Secretary of the constituents of every member of the
Committee; and the constituents of any member, except those appointed by
the Committee (upon whose dismissal that body may exercise a negative),
shall have the power of withdrawing their representative, by a vote of
their majority, of which vote notice in writing shall be given (subscribed
by the persons composing such majority) both to the member so dismissed,
and to the Chairman of the Committee; and in the case of a vacancy
occasioned by a dismissal as above, or by any other cause, the
constituents of the member whose place becomes vacant, may elect another
in his stead, by a unanimous vote, but not otherwise; if such election be
not made within a fortnight after the vacancy has occurred, the
appointment shall devolve upon the Committee."

Terry Bouricius