Prussian three-class franchise

[1] After decades of controversy and failed attempts at reform, which for many caused the Prussian three-class franchise to become a hated symbol of Prussia's democratic shortfalls, it was finally abolished early in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 that broke out following Germany's defeat in World War I.

Even though there were considerable differences between districts in the tax levels at which the cutoffs between classes were made, the system tended to favor conservatives and rural areas over left liberals and cities.

Voter turnout was also significantly lower under three-class voting than it was in elections for the German Reichstag, which did not use the system.

The three-class electoral system was made part of the revised Prussian constitution of 31 January 1850 (paragraph 71).

The top taxpaying eligible voters were assigned to this class until one third of the total tax revenue was reached.

All remaining eligible voters – who also contributed one-third of total taxes – formed the third class.

In 1891 and 1893 the allocation of eligible voters into classes was restructured as a result of the far-reaching tax reforms introduced under Prussian Finance Minister Johannes von Miquel.

Another significant change for cities in 1891 was that the division into classes was always carried out at the level of the primary election district.

If the division into thirds had been carried out under the new rules at the level of the original election districts, the amount would have varied between 18 and 24,896 marks.

When voting was completed in a class, its voters, unless they were members of the electoral board, had to leave the polling station.

In 1906, in cities with a population of 50,000 or more, the electoral assembly was replaced by the time-limit voting that is now common practice, allowing voters to cast their ballots within a specified period of time.

If two candidates each received exactly half of the votes on the first ballot, the decision was made by lot from 1906 onward; until then, a runoff also took place in such a case.

In 1913 the German Conservative Party received 14.8% of the primary electorate votes but won 149 of the 443 seats (33.6%) in the Prussian House of Representatives; the Free Conservative Party won 53 seats (12%) with only 2% of the primary electorate votes.

Voter turnout was particularly high in areas with a large Polish population and in Berlin, while in the rest of Prussia the already low average figure was in some cases considerably undercut.

The historian Thomas Kühne, a specialist in the three-class electoral system, speaks of the "economy of abstention".

Voters, he said, did not stay away from the polls in protest against the restrictive electoral law, but because they could agree in advance who would vote – and it was sufficient if only a few cast ballots.

Especially by the turn of the century, the Prussian electoral law had come to be considered outdated and was criticized from all sides.

Not only Social Democrats took to the streets against the electoral law, but progressive citizens also opposed it in petitions.

[9] The National Liberals, for example, called for plural suffrage, under which certain people may vote more than once, on the model of Belgium and Saxony.

In addition, the National Liberals along with the Centre Party asked for direct suffrage and a redrawing of constituencies to reflect population changes.

[10] They called for plural suffrage, which was favored by intellectuals such as John Stuart Mill and Otto Hintze.

[10] Immediately after the fighting in World War I ended and the German Revolution of 1918–1919 had brought down the Hohenzollern monarchy, the Council of the People's Deputies, Germany's interim governing body, on 12 November 1918 proclaimed universal democratic suffrage.

This abolished the three-class franchise in Prussia and simultaneously introduced women's suffrage throughout Germany.

[11] In recent times, the Prussian three-class franchise has received a more lenient assessment than in previous decades.

It has, for example, been noted that both John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville viewed the system favorably.

[12] When it was introduced, three-class suffrage was considered somewhat on the progressive side because its rolls were based not on land ownership but on taxes and because it was "universal," that is, because in principle every male was allowed to vote.

[13] A general, equal, secret, and direct suffrage for men, such as applied to elections to the Reichstag, was in 1914 enjoyed by only two of the 25 federal states, Baden and Württemberg, and by the imperial territory Alsace-Lorraine, which Germany had taken from France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

In addition to Prussia, a three-class electoral law applied in Braunschweig, Lippe, Saxony (only 1896–1909), Saxe-Altenburg and Waldeck.

Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Hesse, and from 1911 Alsace-Lorraine had a parliament with two chambers; one of which was not filled by popular election.

In most states with only one chamber of parliament, some of the deputies were either appointed by the sovereign or elected by certain groups (such as those most highly taxed, large landowners or academics).