ELECTION VOTING

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26513, 30 August 1951, Page 5

ELECTION VOTING

Sir,—Just how long are the people of New Zealand going to be misled about their voting privilege in this country? On entering a polling booth on election day you are asked your name and address: then a number is given to the next officer on duty, who in turn enters that number on the butt of your voting papers. You then record your vote bv what you believe to be a secret entry; but in actual fact every single voter can be checked on the opinion he or she has expressed by the number entered on the butt of his voting paper—Yours, etc., C. A. LAfiG. August 28, 1951.

.[Returning officers, tp whom this letter was referred, made this explanation of procedure:—The voting paper number was noted on the butt and then on the voting-paper corner, which was gummed down. Should any check be necessary (say, in a suspected case of nlural voting) the voting paper was placed face downward and the* comer slit to examine the number without reference to the choice in voting. This was done in the presence of scrutineers from the parties concerned and of a justice of the peace.]