ELECTION CARDS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 194, 30 May 1945, Page 2

ELECTION CARDS.

“TICKET” SYSTEM. HAMILTON BY-ELECTION RETURNING OFFICER’S COMMENT (P.A.) HAMILTON, This Day. Reference was made to-day by the Returning Officer, Mr H. B. Reid, to the distribution by one of the political parties at the recent by-election of cards bearing on one side a photo of one of the political candidates outside various polling booths. Mr Reid said, in answer to a question that his own view was that the practice was most undesirable, to say the least, and he believed this view was held by a majority of electoral officers, and also by the mass of voters in New Zealand. This was a matter for the Legislature to deal with, he said. The political party concei'ned had apparently taken the advice of leading counsel in New Zealand, and had found it within the law. Mr Reid said he believed that returning officers would welcome legislation dealing with the whole question of “ticket” distribution. The “ticket” system had grown to such an extent in recent years that if it was not curbed in some way it would be embarrassing, not only to returning officers, but to everyone concerned, and its abnormal growth has been caused by the zealous endeavours of all political parties and not of one particular party. The returning officer said that many voters, when they see “ticket” tables outside polling places, wrongly believe that they are official tables directly concerned with the voting, and that these tables must be approached before entering polling booths. While numbers handed out by “party” workers were usually correct, many cases were recorded in which wrong numbers were given, and persons were sometimes told by party workers that they are not on the roll. Summing up the returning' officer gave it as his own opinion that the conduct and control of elections should be left entirely to the returning officers and their staffs, untrammelled in any way by the enthusiastic activities of political parties.