Several systems of proportional representa tion of minorities have been devised, each of which has its variations in different countries or sections. The first, known as the °free list' plan, provides that the lists of candidates shall be made up by the parties before the election and that tke seats to be filled shall be divided between the parties in the proportion of the total votes cast by each, the higher men on each list to be declared elected to the number their party proportion warrants. This system has been in use in some of the Swiss cantons and Belgium enacted it into law in 1899. Its weak ness is that it makes election wholly a party matter, practically preventing independent can didacies. A °freer list' plan advocated by Wil liam H. Gove of Salem, Mass., provides that the lists shall be made up by the candidates, rather than by the parties. In advance of the election the candidates are to designate who shall get the benefit of any ineffective votes cast for them. When the votes are counted, the first step is to divide the total number of bal lots by that of the places to be filled; the quotient determines the number of votes a can didate must get in order to be elected,— his 'quota.' Votes cast for any one man beyond his *quota' are ineffective and are ignored, so far as he is concerned, but are to help some other candidate, and the same is true of votes for candidates receiving so small a number that they must fail of election. The °freest
list' system, the Hare plan, has the list of preferences made up by neither the party nor the candidate, but by the voter, who designates on his ballot the order of his choice. In the counting, as soon as it appears that a first choice candidate needs no more votes, the second-choice candidate moves up into his place, being credited with the ballots until he in turn has reached his quota, and so on. Theoretically the smallest possible number of votes is wasted but in practice difficulty is ex perienced in large districts, since the ballot boxes must be brought to a central bureau to count the vote. There is also a considerable amount of chance in the order of counting the ballots. See also DISTRICT; APPORTIONMENT; CONGRESS; SENATE, UNITED STATES; HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Consult Commons, J. R.,