P.R. AT CAMBRIDGE
Ste,—Since I was present throughout the counting and transfer of votes at the Cambridge University Election, may I reassure Mr. F. C. Frank on two points? First, his surmises about the three discrepancies are all perfectly correct, as a reference to the Cambridge University Reporter of July 31st will show, and he is to be warmly congratulated on his arith- metical acumen. The only detail he gets wrong is that the "quota" is obtained by dividing all valid votes polled by 3, ignoring fractions, and then adding I.
Secondly, the whole of Dr. Pickthorn's votes were not transferred, but only 8,651 of them, and the fraction by which each batch of " second preferences" was multiplied was 2,838/8,651. In other words, 1,551 of Dr. Pickthorn's supporters " plumped," and expressed no second prefer- ence. If Mr. Frank cares to work out the sums on these lines, I think he will be completely satisfied. I should like to add here my own admiration for the way in which the University authorities conducted a most tricky
and complicated count.—Yours sincerely, DAVID THOMSON. Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Previous page
