OHINEMURI ISSUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue LVI, 13 November 1925, Page 7

OHINEMURI ISSUE.

"RECORDED" VOTES. INFORMAL NOT INCLUDED. [' THE LEGAL POSITION. When is a vote not a vote? When it is informal. ' . Question and answer arise out of the decidedly interesting issue at Ohinemuri in connection with the licensing vote. An early message from Wellington yeaterday stated that the Chief Returning Officer had expressed tin; opinion that ns in a restoration poll in a no-license district a three-fifths majority of all the votes recorded was necessary, restoration had not been carried, as 194 informal votes had been recorded.

Naturally, if theae "votes" -were recorded, they would have swamped the 48 votes cast over the three-fifths majority required to carry restoration. Later, however, the' tfhiof Returning Officer announced that he would declare the poll only on the valid votes cast.

"As a matter of fact, he could not lawfully do else," said a leading Auckland legal practitioner to a "Star" reporter to-day. "An informal vote is not a vote at all —it is only a spoilt ballot paper, and it is not recorded. The elector may intend to record his vote, but if he spoils his paper he does not do so. He can only get one paper, and if he has spoilt tii'at he has not recorded but destroyed his vote."

"There can be no dispute about it— it is clearly set forth in the Act," continued the lawyer, who then ran through the Statute instructions to polling officials, one section of which read: 'If the voter strikes out both, or fails td strike out one, of the proposals, the voting paper shall be void, and the elector shall not be deemed to be a voter who haa recorded his vote.'"

As a matter of fact, this very retrulation was published in the "Auckland Star" just prior to the elections, in an article instructing tlie electors how to vote. It relates not only to local restoration, but to all proposals to be submitted under the Licensing Act. Therefore, in the oninion of the prac* tiiionrr already nuoted, informal VOteS cannot bf> "recorded," and so the Ohinemuri maioritv for restoration cannot be interfered with by informal votes. Will T&ere be a Recount? The question is bHns; asked, in view of the narrow majority for restoration in a poll in which nearly 8000 votes were cast. "Will the New Zealand Alljance ask for a recount?" So far, there has not boen any notification of this intention by tlie temperance people. The Licensing Act provides that "any six electors mny. within seven days after the returning officer's public notice of such result (of the poll), apply to a magistrate for a recount of the votes." A deposit of flO is required, part or the whole of which may be ordered by the magistrate to He devoted to defraying the expenses of the recount if he considers the application has been made on insufficient or frivolous grounds. ! The magistrate is required to give at least two days' notice of the time and place at which the recount will be made.

There is also provision made, if any 50 electors are dissatisfied* with the result of the pell, to file a- petition dem and in 3 an inquiry as to the conduct of the po)l. Such a petition must, be accoHipnnied by a deposit of £20, and will be heard before three magistrates, There is also proviskn for opposing such % petition.