Habitation index to check electoral rolls?

Press, 9 June 1980, Page 18

Habitation index to check electoral rolls?

Comment from the Capital

Bv

PHILIP WORTHINGTON

Social Credit claims last week that the Northern Maori electoral roll lists voters _at non-existent addresses have highlighted the. arguments for one of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral law now before the House: a habitation index to be set up as- a check for rhe electoral rolls.

The president of the Social Credit Political League (Mr S. Lipa) said that widespread errors found by his party’s canvassers included voters listed at residences which turned out to

be. paddocks, factories, and, in one case, a quarry. He also said that .voters had been listed in blocks of flats. ■ The. select committee has urged the setting up of a habitation index for the 1981 General Election, and in doing so has echoed the recommendation of the Wicks committee of inquiry into the Electoral Act.

Put simply, a habitation index is a roll of electors in which the names of individuals are shown under the number and addresses of streets or, in country areas, the localities in which they are shown to be registered.

The result is a roll which clearly indicates the number of electors that are currently registered in each dwelling. Any excessively high number of registered voters at any particular street address is immediately highlighted, as is the improper use of another person’s address by any elector attempting to achieve dual registration. Similarly, such a roll brings to notice dwellings in

which there are no registered electors, or an unusuallv low number of electors for the type of dwelling, and enables the electorate officer to obtain new enrolments where applicable.

The existence of such an index would also act as a deterrent against people using false or non-existent addresses to obtain an improper registration, or more than one vote. Provision existed in the

computer system for a habitation index for use during the last General Election but, because oi the confusion which developed _in roll preparation during 1978. the programme was not developed. At the core of any accurate habitation index is the need for an accurate and complete street and locality index and this- was not available at the time. Up until 197 S the index of

places and streets was prepared manually on. the basis of information supplied bylocal electorate officers. The Department of. Lands and Survey, however, has given an .astv.rance that it could provide an ; authoratative and corhp’ete index of the streets and localities with'n each electorate a>'d could keep it up to date, republishing as required. Implementation of the select committee's recomme“dation on a habitation index should enable computerised cross-checking of the electoral rolls to ensure that they do not list voters apparently living in- paddocks or quarries.