SOLDIERS' VOTE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 290, 7 December 1944, Page 7

SOLDIERS' VOTE

FULL REPORT MADE WHY PAPERS WERE BURNED (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Appointed by the House of Representatives to inquire into and report upon the organisation and the methods employed for recording and dealing with votes of servicemen in the 1943 general election the special Select Parliamentary Committee presented its report to 'die House yesterday. The chairman of the committee, Mr Osborne (Govt., Onehunga) said the committee's finding was not unanimous. Its conclusions were:— "The committee is satisfied: (a) That the organisation set up for the conduct of the general election among servicemen was adequate and that the special returning officers performed their duties efficiently, (b) That proper methods were employed for recording and counting the votes and that there was no unfair practice, breach of secrecy, negligence or other irregularity in the performance of these functions. "(c) That the special returning officer in the Middle East, who in all matters carried out his duties with outstanding ability and efficiency, committed an error of judgment in deciding to burn used electoral material, contrary to the requirements of the Electoral Act, 1927. (d) That this officer in arriving at his decision to burn used electoral material acted in good faith, having regard to the difficulties in returning the material to New Zealand due to shipping, storage and security factors and in the knowledge that the count had been properly conducted and the results of the voting faithfully transmitted to New Zealand and that his declaration was final.

"(e) That there was no circumstances which it would be in the interests of any person to conceal and that the burning of the electoral material was not for the purpose of concealing, and did not in fact conceal, any irregularity, (f) That the burning of the ballot papers did not in any way affect the validity or the result of the election." Percentage of Voting Reviewing the conclusions the report stated that special returning officers were based in the United Kingdom, Canada, the Middle East and the Pacific area and one for servicemen in New Zealand. The percentages of votes cast of the estimated voting strength in each area were , —United Kingdom, 75 per cent; Canada, 76; Middle East, 88; Pacific, 97 These compared favourably with the civilian votes percentage which was 82.8. . , . , Inquiring into particular instances in which servicemen had been unable to vote the committee found the most important related to India. The failure of the thorough preparations made was due to post office officials not under New Zealand control sending material by surface mail instead of air mail as instructed. The committee was satisfied that tne special returning officers who were appointed by the chief electoral officer with the concurrence of the Government were well fitted to conduct their work and their success in spite of many difficulties in enabling such heavy polling was a tribute to their efficiency. Arrangements had been made for voting in the Middle East on September 12 but owing "to the non-arrival of the propaganda material voting was stopped until September 19 at the instance of General Freyberg, so that the men could peruse electioneering material. Some 6000 votes had been cast, however, before the signal stopping the voting was received by units. The voting was carried out in accordance with th- Electoral (Members of the Forces) Regulations, 1941 and the evidence before the committee indicated that it was conducted in a p.-oper manner, and that there was no unfair practice, breach of secrecy, negligence or other irregularity. The scrutiny of the rolls revealed only two cases of dual voting, these being in the Middle East. The votes had been disallowed.

Officers Satisfied In the absence of scrutineers appointed by political parties, official witnesses in the Middle East were nominated by the Second N.Z.E.F. headquarters, according to the regulations. These officers certified that tl ey were entirely satisfied that the figures in the official count were accurate. In the Pacific, representatives of political parties -were able to attend the r crutineering and official count. They had assured the special returning officer that they had no objections to offer regarding the conduct of the election. The Electoral Act, 1927, provided that used ballot papers are to be forwarded to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, to be stored for 12 months, stated the report. The Emergency Regulations, 1941, provided that the result of the count as so notified by the special returning officer shall for all purposes be deemed to be correct and accepted for the purposes of any recount. This clause contemplated the circumstances that voting papers might be destroyed by enemy action, and consequently the returning officer's declaration was deemed to be final. Servicemen's votes thas by law not available foi the purposes of a recount. In the magisterial recount in the Eden electorate it was held

by the magistrate mat servicemen's voting papers were not available for recount. ■ , „ Used ballot papers, counterfoils and rolls were returned to New Zealand from the United Kingdom, Canada and the Pacific area, but not from the Middle East. "In this case, the special returning officer in his own discretion ordered the used voting material to be burned," states the report. "The electoral material was completely destroyed by placing it in the incinerator provided for the disposal of secret material. This was supervised by Captain Bolland, of the special returning officers' staff, and other members of it. A guard was provided by the Provost Corps. "In making his decision, the returning officer was powerfully influenced by the following considerations:—(a) The count had been properly conducted, the results had been transmitted to New Zealand, voting material was not available for the purposes of a recount, and his declaration was final, (b) An extremely difficult shipping situation existed at the time, and the advice froln Brigadier Weir, officer in charge of the administration of the Second N.Z.E.F., that there was no possibility whatever of being able to ship electoral material back to New Zealand. Safe Storage Not Available "(c) The fact that the Second N.Z.E.F. was not prepared to accept responsibility for the custody of the material, in view of its pending departure for Italy, and that other safe storage was not available, (d) The fact that the election material contained information valuable to the enemy, and that security would be endangered by incurring any risk that it might fall into enemy hands." The special returning officer had made his decision after seeking the advice of Brigadier Weir, who had confirmed that responsibility for storage could not be accepted, and that particulars available from the electoral material would have been of value to the enemy, because the enemy was under the impression that New Zealand had two divisions in the Middle East, and not one only. Captain Bolland's evidence stated that the Second N.Z.E.F. was very insistent that the information supplied to the special returning officer about the strength and location of units should be carefully guarded, and electoral material was therefore kept under lock and key and guarded night and day. "The foregoing factors alone led Major Bryan, the special returning officer, to make his decision —factors associated with the military environment," concluded the report.