“Electors should be better informed”

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33611, 13 August 1974, Page 7

“Electors should be better informed”

The Political Renewal Group could do useful service in grading councils on what they were doing, as better-informed residents might then vote in larger numbers, said the chairman of the finance committee of the Waimairi County Council (Cr L. J. G. Franks).

He was commenting on the “democracy" grading carried out by the group on the basis of the percentage of electors voting at the 1971 local body elections, in which the group rated Waimairi as “a democratic failure.”

Cr Franks said the group’s object, to stimulate interest in local government, was commendable, but it was unfortunate that the group’s' logic did not match its enthusiasm. “At the last Christchurch City Council elections, there were two very controversial tissues, and the poll was much higher than it was :three years previously,” said' ■Cr Franks. “Controversy over the of Fendalton Road produced a Fendalton riding poll in Waimairi County that was 10 per cent above the county average. I hope the group does not suggest councils should be controversial just to get a higher poll. “I voted against postal ballots in Waimairi this year because I prefer to be reelected or defeated by residents who take enough interest in community affairs to make the effort of going to the polling booth. “I am concerned that postal voting could lead to uninformed persons choosing at random, or voting for those at the top of the ballot paper, as often happens at City Council elections. Postal voting gets higher polls, but not better-informed voters or better candidates,”