READY FOR POLLS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 121, 24 May 1944, Page 3

READY FOR POLLS

LOCAL BODY SEATS

ELECTIONS ON SATURDAY

Wide interest is being taken in the municipal elections, which will be held on Saturday. The polling hours will be between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Returning officers were busy to-day completing arrangements. Large staffs have been engaged, and huge quantities of voting material and equipment have to be distributed among the many booths.

This year the Auckland Electric Power Board and the Auckland Transport Board elections will be held on the same day as the other local elections.

In the city area there will be 60 polling places. Principal interest will centre in the city mayoral election. 1 here are three candidates, the sitting Mayor, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, who is sponsored by the Auckland Citi-ns-.T? Ratepayers' Association: Mr. W. T. Anderton, M.P., who is the official Labour candidate; and Mr. J. Victor Macky, a prominent Auckland business man, who is standing as an independent candidate.

Tickets have been put forward for a number of the elections by the Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers' Association, the official Labour party, and the Auckland Municipal Electors' Association.

Many Candidates

For the 21 seats on the Auckland City Council there are 52 candidates. bor five city seats on the Auckland Hospital Board there are 12 candidates, and the same number for four city seats on the Auckland Harbour Board.

For the six seats on the Auckland Transport Board in the city area there are 21 candidates, and there are 32 candidates for the 12 seats on the Auckland Electric Power Board.

Similar keen competition is being shown for seats on the Auckland suburban local bodies.

The method of voting will be to put a cross in the square provided opposite the names of candidates for whom the elector wishes to vote. An elector may plump for a single candidate, but if too many names are marked, the voting paper becomes invalid.

Returning officers have had many inquiries during the present week. It is pointed out that there is no provision for absentee voting, and a declaration vote will be allowed only in a case where an elector has made application for enrolment, but through an error on the part of the local authority his name has been omitted from the roll. A case in point in regard to absentees was mentioned by a returning officer to-day. He said he had been asked if arrangements could be made for twelve siek people in a private hospital to record their votes. The reply was that they could vote only at one of the polling booths.