Editing Husting (section)

===Britain===
In Britain, a similar practice prevailed in [[List of United Kingdom general elections|elections]] to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]. At the conclusion of candidates' speeches, a show of hands was taken. This was an informal indication of the opinion of the voters and no official record was kept of how many voted for a particular candidate. Sometimes a candidate who found he had little support or otherwise did not want to continue declined to call for a poll. One example of this was seen in the 1784 election for the [[City of London (UK Parliament constituency)|four seats of the  City of London]]. [[William Pitt the Younger]] was proposed and "was returned on the show of hands" but removed himself from consideration before the polling was completed.<ref>{{cite book | last=Smith | first=Henry Stooks | title=The Parliaments of England | publisher= Political Reference Publications | year=1973}}</ref> Hustings crowds were often boisterous<ref>Angus Hawkins, ''Victorian Political Culture: "Habits of Heart and Mind"'' (Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 286.</ref> and unruly.<ref name=Vernon>James Vernon, ''Modern Britain, 1750 to the Present'' (Cambridge University Press, 2017), p. 525.</ref>

An individual [[Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliamentary constituency]] might have several separate hustings.<ref name=Vernon/> Initially, many constituencies had only a single hustings as the polling place,<ref name=Roberts>Matthew Roberts, ''Political Movements in Urban England, 1832–1914'' (Bloomsbury Publishing: 2008).</ref> but the [[Reform Act 1832]] required that a separate hustings exist for every 600 electors.<ref name=Roberts/><ref name=Ackerman>Edwin F. Ackerman, ''Origins of the Mass Party: Dispossession and the Party-Form in Mexico and Bolivia in Comparative Perspective'' (Oxford University Press: 2021), p. 123.</ref> The 1832 act also slightly extended the franchise, expanding the percentage of the population eligible to vote from about 5% to 7%, and furthering the notions of [[Political representation|representation]].<ref name=Roberts/> Although ineligible to vote, historians have noted that women and unenfranchised men took part in "looking on"&mdash;the "active participation of non-electors in the rituals of the nomination and the hustings."<ref>Angus Hawkins, ''Victorian Political Culture: "Habits of Heart and Mind"'' (Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 162.</ref>

The [[Ballot Act 1872]] abolished the hustings in Britain in favor of the [[secret ballot]].<ref name=1911EBritannica/> The system of public nomination at the hustings was replaced by nomination based on the submissions of signed papers. [[John Bright]], a [[Radicals (UK)|Radical]] reformer, was among those who supported the secret ballot and the end to the hustings, citing the "tumult and disorder" (including often alcohol-fueled [[mob violence]] that accompanied the hustings process in some areas).<ref>Jon Lawrence, ''Electing Our Masters: The Hustings in British Politics from Hogarth to Blair'' (Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 45–48.</ref> Proponents of the abolition of the public hustings also argued that the increased [[literacy rate]] and the availability of inexpensive newspapers rendered the hustings superfluous.<ref>Jon Lawrence, ''Electing Our Masters: The Hustings in British Politics from Hogarth to Blair'' (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 46.</ref>