ates, and extended in 1871 and in 1873 to the southern
states and to Alsace-Lorraine respectively. Elections are held
uniformly throughout the Empire on a day fixed by the Emperor. In the
event of a dissolution prior to the end of the five-year term an
election is required to take place within a period of sixty days, and
the new Reichstag must be convened not later than ninety days after
the dissolution.[329] For election on the first ballot an absolute
majority of the votes cast within the circle, or district, is
required. If no candidate obtains such a majority, there follows a
second balloting (_Stichwahl_) a fortnight later, when choice is made
between the two candidates who upon the first occasion polled the
largest number of votes. In the event of a tie, decision is by
lot.[330] Secrecy of the ballot is specially safeguarded by
regulations enacted April 28, 1903. Each voter, upon appearing at the
polls, is furnished with an envelope and a white voting-paper bearing
an official stamp. In a compartment arranged for the purpose in the
polling room he marks his ballot and incloses it in the envelope. As
he leaves the room he hands the envelope to the presiding officer or
deposits it in a voting urn. Once elected, a member, according to
constitutional stipulation, is a representative, not of the
constituency that chose him, but of the people of the Empire as a
whole, and he may not be bound by any order or instruction.[331]

[Footnote 329: Art. 25. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 333.]

[Footnote 330: By reason of the multiplicity of
parties the number of second ballotings required is
invariably large. In 1890 it was 138; in 1893, 181;
in 1898, 185; in 1903, 180; in 1907, 158; and in
1912, 191. It is calculated that the effect of
forty per cent of the second ballotings is to
prevent the election of the candidate obtaining
originally the largest number of votes. The
arrangement operates to the advantage principally
of the National Liberals, the Radicals, and other
essentially moderate parties, and to the
disadvantage especially of the Social Democrats. On
this subject see A. N. Holcombe, Direct Primaries
and the Second