Stimulating Interest In Local Elections

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28222, 9 March 1957, Page 10

Stimulating Interest In Local Elections

The Municipal Association acted wisely in instructing its executive to investigate the lack of interest in local elections, although some of the discussion preceding the decision showed rather less wisdom. Among the remedies suggested were compulsory voting, municipal income tax, “ educating the “ voters ”, and an improved form of ballot paper. The executive will presumably study other ideas, too. It need not waste much time on compulsory voting, which is undemocratic and probably impracticable. It has failed to give Australia a better voting record than New Zealand in general elections, it would be almost impossible to enforce, and it would deprive individual electors of the right to abstain, which might possibly be an important right in some circumstances. More votes might be cast, but with less real interest. A municipal income tax could be written off at this Stage, too, because whatever its merits (and overseas experience shows them to be’ arguable), no government would agree tc such an innovation without an indication of strong public support. The indication is rather obviously in the other direction. The tax would become practical politics only when all sections of the public were keenly interested in. local affairs; and it would be putting the cart before the horse to consider it as a stimulant of interest. “Educating the voters” is a much more promising possibility, although it would not have to be the nation-wide effort suggested by the Mayor of Hamilton (Mr R. Braithwaite). Most of the larger local authorities have given some thought to public relations, without much apparent under-

standing of what they mean and often with subsidiary objectives in view. Public relations should mean just what the term suggests—better relations between a local authority and its public. Tackled properly and without undue expense, it might have startling results. Perhaps the Municipal Association could subsidise some borough council in a soundly designed experiment in public relations. The alphabetical printing of ballot papers hardly seemed relevant to the discussion because voters are discouraged not by the way names are arranged on ballot papers but by the length of the papers and the number of them. There is no reason why the alphabetical order should not be varied equitably through groups of papers as a service to candidates. This would be unimportant if borough councils were elected on a ward system, giving an elector a list of, say, half a dozen names to consider. Local government reform would also reduce the problems of voting and at the same time increase interest by giving local authorities wider and more reasonable functions.

Of course the apathy may not be as bad as it seems. If the president (Mr N. H. Moss) is right, most of those who do not vote are men and women with only residential qualifications, who are not directly interested in the way rate revenue is spent. If a good proportion of ratepayers vote, then local authorities may reasonably represent the opinion of their districts. This is a point worth looking into by the executive. The result may suggest the best way of creating greater interest in local government.