View source for Plural voting

{{Short description|Election voting practice}}
'''Plural voting''' is the practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an [[election]]. It is not to be confused with a [[plurality voting]] system, which elects winners by relative lead in vote tallies and does not necessarily involve plural voting. It is different from the multiple voting that occurs under [[Plurality block voting|block voting]]. 

[[Weighted voting]] is a generalisation of plural voting.

==Belgium==
In Belgium, voting was restricted to the wealthy tax brackets from independence in 1830 until 1848, when it was expanded to include a somewhat larger number of voters. The restriction on voting was abolished in 1893 after the [[Belgian general strike of 1893|first general strike in Europe]] and replaced wide adult male franchise but with plural voting for some males. They were allowed one or two additional votes, if they were head of a family or had a certain amount of education or money.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maurice Vauthier |title=The Revision of the Belgian Constitution in 1893 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |date=Dec 1894 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=704–729}}</ref> This was applied for elections from 1894 to 1919 as a way to limit the impact of [[universal suffrage]]. 

Every male citizen over 25 got one vote for legislative elections, but some electors got up to two supplementary votes according to some criteria:<ref>[http://www.belgium.be/eportal/application?languageRedirected=yes&docId=3448&pageid=contentPage&languageParameter=nl L'évolution du droit de vote] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215140213/http://www.belgium.be/eportal/application?languageRedirected=yes |date=2007-12-15 }}, Belgium.be (official Belgian Portal)</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=keh_JJginLwC&pg=PA118 Marie-Thérèse Bitsch, Histoire de la Belgique de l'Antiquité à nos jours], Bruxelles, Editions Complexe, 2004, {{ISBN|2-8048-0023-7}}</ref>
*holder of a school diploma;
*family head over 30, paying a [[Tax per head|poll tax]] of at least five francs;
*holder of a savings account of at least 2,000 francs, or beneficiary of a [[life annuity]] of at least 100 francs.

The system was unpopular. Two more general strikes - [[Belgian general strike of 1902|in 1902]] and in [[Belgian general strike of 1913|1913]] - were conducted to demand the abolition of plural voting.

For municipal elections, a fourth vote was granted to family heads who paid a fixed level of electoral tax, or whose [[cadastral]] income was at least of 150 francs.

== Ireland ==
Plural voting for Dáil elections was abolished by the [[Electoral Act 1923]]: electors could be registered in only one constituency: the constituency in which he or she was ordinarily resident; the constituency in which he or she occupied business premises; or one of two [[university constituencies]].<ref name=franchise>{{cite Irish legislation|year=1923|type=act|number=12|name=[[Electoral Act 1923]]|date=17 April 1923|access-date=31 May 2021|parl=ifs|section=1|stitle=Dáil franchise}}</ref> University constituencies were abolished at the [[1937 Irish general election|1937 general election]]. [[University constituency#Ireland|University constituencies]] were recreated in 1938 for the [[Seanad Éireann]], the upper house of the [[Oireachtas]] (the Irish legislature). Graduates of [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University]] and the [[National University of Ireland (constituency)|National University]] are entitled to vote in these constituencies in addition to exercising their normal vote for Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, and may vote in both constituencies if entitled.

The Local Government (Dublin) Act 1930, passed by the [[Government of the 6th Dáil|Cumann na nGaedheal government]], provided that [[Dublin City Council]] would comprise 30 popularly elected "ordinary members" and five "commercial members" elected by business [[ratepayer]]s (individuals or [[corporate person]]s). The commercial members were elected in a single five-member constituency. They were elected by [[single transferable vote]] but with each elector casting one ballot or up to six ballots, depending on the tax amount they paid.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1930041000010|title=Local Government (Dublin) Bill, 1929 – Committee Stage (Resumed)|date=10 April 1930|work=Dáil Éireann Debates|publisher=Oireachtas|pages=Vol. 34 No. 7 p. 10 |no-pp=y|access-date=3 February 2017}}; {{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1930/act/27/enacted/en/index.html|title=Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1930|no-pp=y|pages=§§31(1), 34, 35|work=[[Irish Statute Book]]|access-date=3 February 2017}}; {{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1930/act/28/enacted/en/index.html|title=Electoral (Dublin Commercial) Act, 1930|work=[[Irish Statute Book]]|pages=Schedule 1, §§13–14; Schedule 2|no-pp=y|access-date=3 February 2017}}</ref> The commercial members were abolished in 1935 by the [[Government of the 8th Dáil|Fianna Fáil government]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1933051700023|title=Local Government (Dublin) Bill, 1933 – Second Stage|date=17 May 1933|work=Dáil Éireann Debate|pages=Vol. 47 No. 10 p. 23 |no-pp=y|access-date=3 February 2017}}; {{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1935/act/10/section/2/enacted/en/html#sec2|title=Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1935, Section 2|work=[[Irish Statute Book]]|access-date=3 February 2017}}</ref>

[[Inland Fisheries Ireland|Inland fisheries boards]] prior to 2010<ref>{{cite web |title=Inland Fisheries Act 2010, §§12, 48 |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2010/act/10/enacted/en/print.html |website=electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) |access-date=12 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref> were elected by holders of fishing licences, who until 1980<ref>{{cite web |title=Fisheries Act, 1980, §12(2)(a) |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1980/act/1/section/12/enacted/en/html#sec12 |website=electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) |access-date=12 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref> had varying numbers of votes depending on the cost of their licences.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=411FAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA948 Fisheries (Ireland) Act 1848, §9]; [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1925/act/32/section/8/enacted/en/html#sec8 Fisheries Act 1925, §8]; {{cite book |title=Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 §24(2) |publisher=electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1959/act/14/section/24/enacted/en/html |access-date=12 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

== New Zealand ==
Plural voting, also referred to as "dual voting", was abolished in [[New Zealand]] in 1889 for general elections. However, it is still permitted in some local elections, such as Auckland Council.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elections.org.nz/democracy/key-dates-electoral-reform.html |title=Key dates in New Zealand electoral reform |access-date=May 18, 2008 |publisher=[[Elections New Zealand]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013063817/http://www.elections.org.nz/democracy/key-dates-electoral-reform.html |archive-date=October 13, 2008 }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=November 2023|reason=No mention of Auckland in the web.archive.org copy. Can't access the original.}}

==United Kingdom==
In the [[United Kingdom]], up to 1948, people affiliated with a university were allowed a vote in both a [[university constituency]] and their home constituency, and property owners could vote in the constituencies where their property lay and that in which they lived, if they were different. In 1892 [[George Shaw-Lefevre, 1st Baron Eversley|George Shaw-Lefevre]] MP stated:

{{blockquote|I have myself five votes for five different constituencies—not that I have sought the votes by purchasing property for that purpose; but they have come to me accidentally on account of holding property in different places. Two are occupation votes, two freehold votes, and one is for a University. But I know many who have a great many more votes than five. I think it was [[Sir Robert Fowler, 1st Baronet|Sir Robert Fowler]], a late Member of this House, who used to boast that he had no fewer than thirteen votes in different constituencies, and that he was able at one General Election to record them all. Then there is the well-known case of the Oxford tutor—a man who had eighteen different qualifications, and, at the Election of 1874, voted in respect of these different qualifications eighteen times. But this case pales before one I heard of recently. A clergyman of the Church of England, who has a hobby for acquiring qualifications in different constituencies, has been able to obtain fifty votes in different places, and I was informed that at a certain General Election he contrived to vote in no fewer than forty different places.<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |title=Plural Voting (Abolition) Bill (No 42)    |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1892-05-18/debates/f7469345-8202-4853-9c55-e456e222a4fc/SecondReading |house=House of Commons |date=18 May 1892 |column=1184 |speaker=George Shaw-Lefevre |position=}}</ref>}}

After 1910, the Liberal government was intent on passing a Plural Voting Bill that sought to prevent electors who appeared on the electoral register more than once from voting more than once. Liberal and Unionist headquarters were in agreement that 29 seats were won by Unionists in December 1910 because of plural voting.<ref>Ian Packer, ''Lloyd George, Liberalism and the Land''</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2021}} The bill actually passed third reading,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=War is hell |journal=Grain Growers Guide |issue=July 23, 1913 |pages=6}}</ref> but before the bill could pass into law, the [[World War I|Great War]] started and the bill was shelved. These practices were finally abolished for parliamentary elections by the [[Representation of the People Act 1948]], which first applied in the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 General Election]]. However, plural voting for local government elections continued until it was abolished, outside the [[City of London]], by the [[Representation of the People Act 1969]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Halsey |first=Albert Henry |date=1988 |title=British Social Trends since 1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3euCwAAQBAJ&q=%22Representation+of+the+people+act+1969%22+%22business+vote%22&pg=PA298 |publisher=Springer |page=298 |isbn=9781349194667 |author-link=A. H. Halsey}}</ref><ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |title=City of London (Ward Elections) Bill |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1999/feb/24/city-of-london-ward-elections-bill-by#S6CV0326P0_19990224_HOC_414 |house=House of Commons |date=24 February 1999 |column=452 |speaker=[[Peter Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville|Peter Brooke]]}}</ref> It still exists in the [[City of London#Elections|City of London]].

===Northern Ireland===
Until the Electoral Law Act 1968 took effect in 1969,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1968/20/introduction|title=Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1968|website=www.legislation.gov.uk|access-date=2018-01-19}}</ref> the [[Queen's University of Belfast (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Queen's University, Belfast]] constituency was retained in the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]], giving an additional vote to graduates. As well, owners of businesses were allowed to cast more than one vote in parliamentary elections.  [[Tim Pat Coogan]] wrote on this subject:
<blockquote>Limited companies and occupiers of premises with a rateable valuation of £10 could appoint nominees—as could companies for each £10 of their valuations—under a system of plural voting, which even allowed such votes to be cast in another constituency...<ref>{{cite book
| last                  = Tim Pat
| first                 = Coogan
| title                 = The IRA
| chapter-url                   = http://www.timpatcoogan.com/books/the_ira.htm
| access-date            = 7 October 2012
| edition               = 12
| year                  = 1987
| publisher             = William Collins Sons & Ltd.
| location              = Glasgow
| page                  = 442
| chapter               = 16
}}</ref></blockquote>
Plural voting also existed in local government elections in Northern Ireland, as in the rest of the United Kingdom (see above).

==Contemporary theory==
Philosopher [[Thomas Mulligan]] has proposed a system of plural voting which uses a mathematical algorithm to determine voters' ability{{clarify|date=September 2023}} and then gives higher-ability voters more votes.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Plural Voting for the Twenty-first Century |volume=68|issue=271|pages=286–306|journal=[[The Philosophical Quarterly]]|doi=10.1093/pq/pqx046 |year = 2018|last1 = Mulligan|first1 = Thomas|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Yulia Latynina]] proposes to offer money to voters who agree to sell their voting right.

==See also==
*[[University constituency]]
*[[One man, one vote]]
*[[Suffrage]]
*[[Prussian three-class franchise]]
*[[Cumulative voting]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Electoral systems]]