Party double – checking Lyttelton voting

Press, 1 December 1978, Page 1

Party double - checking Lyttelton voting

The National Party will double-check Lyttelton scrutineers’ sheets before it considers legal action on the several hundred cases of double voting it alleges took place in the General Election. The party’s campaign chairman in Lyttelton (Mr R. A. Gormack) said he had no doubts about the number of apparent double votes his scrutineers had found. However, he wanted “solid evidence’’ before he took firm legal advice. The party had approached a lawyer for a legal opinion “off the top of his head,” said Mr Gormack. The lawyer had said that the

party’s findings would warant legal action, which could mean an electoral petition to the Supreme Court. The lawyer had said that the problem did not really fall under the jurisdiction* of the returning officer. (Mr J. A. Cross). “We Have got ■nothing against’ Mr Cross. He is doing a very good job. But it is not his job to make sure (he electoral rolls are in shape,” said Mr Gormack. C The party is going to people who it knows have had more than one vote cast against their name. “We are asking them where they made their vote and at what time. You can’t do

this without solid evidence.” Mr Cross said he had finished checking the rolls and was doing a final check on 18 apparent duplications., The first he had , come across involved the deputy returning officer at the Chatham Islands. What had happened, however, was that the name had been crossed out incorrectly, and the polling clerk put a tick against the name to show that the vote was still “alive.” When the officer actually voted, there was an apparent double vote. Another case had involved a husband and wife. The wife had been crossed

off the roll as deceased, but she had appeared on election day to cast her vote. A check with the Post Office showed that the husband’s name should have been crossed off as deceased. • But Mr Cross said he did not expect to find as many apparent double votes as the National Party had found. The final check should be completed by today. Special votes were still arriving at the returning office. The number so far, 2300, was still about 400 short of the 1975 figure, but the final date for special votes to arrive was December 5, said Mr Cross.