N.Z. ready to go to the polls

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33083, 25 November 1972, Page 1

N.Z. ready to go to the polls

Today is General Election day, when voters will have 10 hours in which to visit the polls. In the circulation area of “The Press” there are 17 electorates and about 700 polling places.

Electors can look forward to voting in shirt-sleeves and summer frocks, the Weather Office says. With the passing of a cold snap, temperatures should rise over New Zealand, and most districts should experience fine weather, the forecast says.

The Registrar of Electors at Christchurch (Mr R. A. Aitken) says voters may cast their votes at any polling booth within their electorates.

At every booth throughout New Zealand, there are facilities for the recording of special votes. This means that a person from Auckland, for example, visiting Christchurch may go to any booth to cast his vote.

Such persons, voting out of their electorates, should apply to the officer in charge of the booth for voting papers. Any other voters who cannot attend a polling booth, b$ they in their own electorate or not, may also obtain a special vote. They may do this by authorising any other person to go to a polling booth and asking for voting papers. A note signed by the voter unable to get to the poll will be sufficient evidence to justify the officer in charge of the booth issuing special voting papers. Special voters Alternatively, any voter unable to get to the poll may get in touch with representatives of the various political parties contesting the

election, who will apply on their behalf at the booth for the special voting papers. Those who qualify as special voters today are: Those whose names have been wrongly omitted or deleted from the main roll or any supplementary roll for the district or who have applied for registration too late for their names to appear on the last supplementary roll printed for the election. Those who will be precluded from attending to vote at any polling place in the district because they will be absent from New Zealand or a district or will not be within two miles by the nearest practicable route to any polling

place in the district; because of conditions in which they will be travelling, or because of illness, infirmity, or approaching or recent maternity. Those who have religious objections to casting a vote on the day of the week on which polling takes place. Those who satisfy the returning officer or deputy returning officer that on any other ground it will not be possible to vote without incurring hardship or undue inconvenience. Care with papers Voters should take good care today as to how they mark the ballot papers. The correct way to cast a vote is to strike out the names of the candidates the voter does not support. Only one name should be left untouched. Any other way of marking the ballot paper will make the vote invalid, and it will not be counted. It is not enough to put a tick alongside the name of a candidate the voter wishes to support. If a voter erroneously crosses out the wrong name, he should obtain a new form from the officer in charge of the booth. As regards the liquor poll, only one line should be left unmarked.