REGISTER NOW AS ELECTORS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 197, 20 August 1943, Page 2

REGISTER NOW AS ELECTORS

TN a democracy there is unlikely to be good government without a broad basis of well-informed citizenship. The election campaign now imminent is the first for nearly five years, and one consequence is that a larger proportion of voters than has been usual will vote for the first time. During four of the five years public attention has been preoccupied by the events of war. It is little wonder that a correspondent, whose letter is published to-day, professes ignorance of some matters concerning which it is too commonly assumed that nobody needs exact instruction. No doubt there are many others who also need it. As the first essential, there is the matter of becoming enrolled as a voter. This can be attended to—and there is a legal duty to attend to it—at any post office, or by writing to or visiting the office of the Registrar of Electors. Any elector in doubt as to the electorate in which he or she lives should seek official advice and not accept the opinions of some people who may be ill-informed. Every elector who fails to have his or her name registered is, simply, disfranchised. He or she will have no more influence on the election than prisoners and insane persons, who are legally debarred from voting.