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32 Ill. L. Rev. 12 (1937-1938)
Cumulative Voting in Illinois

handle is hein.journals/illlr32 and id is 50 raw text is: CUMULATIVE VOTING IN ILLINOIS By Charles S. Hyneman* and Julian D. Morganf F THE history of the western world has taught any lesson about politics, it is that competent, courageous, in- formed legislatures are absolutely es- sential to any political regime that is designed to be reasonably responsive to the will of the governed. Experience may have repudiated particular formu- las for assuring the responsiveness of legislative bodies, but it has not so much as impeached the assertion in the American Declaration of Independence that the right of Representation in the Legislature is a right inestimable to the people and formidable to ty- rants only. But the right of Repre- sentation becomes more than a hollow shell only if the electoral system pro- duces legislators who are powerful in their spokesmanship for the interests of their constituents. The writers have no disposition to picture the Illinois legislature as a co- terie of mighty Galahads defending a virgin mid-west democracy from the assaults of lecherous tyranny. It is the thesis of this article that the Illi- nois House of Representatives pos- sesses at least one important attribute which reflects favorably upon it when compared with the legislative bodies of many other states, and that this qual- ity is in large part contributed by the peculiar system of legislative selection used only in this state. The capacity of a legislature for adequate represen- tation in policy-making is determined in large part by the experience in the legislative process which its members * A.B. 1923, A.M. 1925, Indiana; Ph.D. 1929, Illinois. Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois. tA.B. 1934, A.M. 1935, Illinois. Research As- have accumulated. In the brevity of legislative service lies one of the great causes for the weaknesses of our legis- lative bodies, writes Robert Luce, for many years member of the Massachu- setts General Court and of Congress, and the most convincing American writer on legislation. They are so largely made up of inex- perienced men that the wonder is their work is no worse .... Repeatedly it has been seen that when waves of popular indignation or excitement have swept into a Congress or Legislature a larger number of new men than usual, there has been a distinct drop in the quality of legislation. The proposition ought to need no argu- ment. It stands to reason that novices cannot do such good work as experts.1 On this point of accumulated legis- lative experience the Illinois House of Representatives presents a much better record than most of the lower legisla- tive chambers of the American states. In so far as this greater stability of personnel is contributed by the cumu- lative voting device, it stands as an endorsement of that electoral proced- ure and an argument for its continu- ance. This article is an argument for the retention of cumulative voting in Illinois. It will attempt, first, to dis- prove the validity of some of the ob- jections which have been advanced against the system of cumulative vot- ing, and second, to advance the positive contention that cumulative voting has contributed to a much desired stability in the personnel of the House of Repre- sentatives. sistant, Department of Political Science, Uni- versity of Illinois. I Luce, Legislative Assemblies (1924) 358, 359.

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