KEEPING ELECTORAL ROLLS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 29, 3 February 1905, Page 2

KEEPING ELECTORAL ROLLS.

NEW SYSTEM INAUGURATED. CHAT WITH MR MANSFIELD. In the past there have been numerous complaints at each election regarding the way the rolls of electors were kept, and it will be remembered that last election feeling in Auckland ran so high that a strong deputation waited upon Sir Joseph Ward, with the result that Mr Donne was sent up to Auckland to look after matters. Sir Joseph Ward then said that the Government wanted a proper roll, and evidence of the truth of that statement is the fact that Mr W. F. Mansfield, formerly Registrar of Electors at Wellington, and now Chief Electoral Officer, is at present in Auckland to introduce a system of preparing and keeping rolls of voters which seems to be so perfect as almost to prohibit the occurrence of errors.

Mr Mansfield was waited upon by a representative of the "Auckland Star" to-day, and courteously furnished full details of the system to be inaugurated, which, it may be explained, is his own creation, and has been in use at Wellington. Mr Mansfield has been working his way up North" from Wellington, instructing registrars on the way. From Auckland he will go on to Whangarei, Hamilton and Dargaville on a similar mission.

"Nearly all registrars," said Mr Mansfield, "had difficulty with the clause requiring them to keep a manuscript roll. That resulted in my starting the manuscript roll in card form, and my present system has gradually developed as the result of experience. First, a registrar requires what I call an electoral card cabinet, which is a system- of pigeonholes divided alphabetically. When a claim is received the name of the voter, etc., is recorded on a card, which is duly pigeon-holed under its proper letter. These cards have each an eyelet hole, which enables them to be tied together in bundles of 25 each, and each packet is duly numbered, so that reference is easy. These cabinets lock automatically, and the registrar alone has the key to open them. When a roll requires to be printed the cards are sent in locked boxes to the printer, and only the registrar and the printer have keys to unlock these boxes. When returned the cards are cheeked, and every care taken to prevent the possibility of a mistake. Another innovation is that registrars' rolls will be interleaved so that transfers and other alterations can be entered on the blank sheet, which enables one to see at a glance what is sought for. In the matter of transfers tha registrar does not transfer any name without proper authority, such ac notice of death or removal to another district. These matters are all noted on the blank leaf of the roll.

With respect to claims for enrolment, Mr Mansfield explained that when a claim was received it would first be checked against the existing roll, but a new feature that should give great satisfaction is that, after being approved, each claim will be duly acknowledged, a printed form being posted to the elector making the claim, who then has absolute evidence to show in the event of his name not appearing on the roll. Every registrar will be furnished with various stamps to be affixed to the claim. The first is the date when received, then "checked" when that has been done, next "carded" when the claim has been entered on the card and pigeon-holed, then follows "approved" when the claim is passed by the Registrar, and "acknowledged" when the notice hue been posted to the elector making the claim. In event of transfer, that word is also put on the claim. Another excellent feature of the new system is that the claims are arranged alphabetically, and cheaply bound, so that any one can be easily turned up showing the various office stamps upon it in the event of any inquiry being made. It will thus be seen that when finally carded the records in the cabinet which form the manuscript roll can easily be turned up.

Another innovation explained was the collection of names of electors by Government canvassers. Bach collector is given an interleaved roll, with a map of the subdivisions given to him. Electoral claim forms are given in pade, each one being numbered to show who collected the name. This enables the Registrar to inspect what may be termed the "field work" of the collectors. Small subdivisions are given, and every house has to be visited and the names of all adults noted, just the same as if a directory was being made up. By this system the roll in Wellington was made up in 10 daya, which shows its efficacy. The collectors are to make daily returns of claims and corrected addresses. Each Government collector will be furnished with written authority from the Registrar to show he has been appointed to enroll in a certain subdivision, and should save people from being worried in the future by a dozen unauthorised canvassers. Printed instructions will be furnished to each collector, so as to assure uniformity of system. It will thus be seen that ilr Mansfield has so. arranged matters that all claims in the Registrar's office should be kept in alphabetical order of sequence, available for future reference. After the principal roll has been published, in order to avert error it will be checked back from the cards to the original claims sent in, so that a mistake should hardly ever occur, a3 this is really a triple check. It should be gratifying to electors that thf Government has appointed a gentleman like Mr Mansfield; who has evidently earefullv studied to inaugurate a system of enrol linsc voters that apparently approaches very near perfection if properly carried out.