Helensville majority cut

Press, 7 December 1981, Page 6

Helensville majority cut

PA Auckland National’s hold on Helensville has became even more precarious. Confirmation last evening of an election-night error means that the National member of Parliament for Helensville, Mr D. M. J. Jones, has had his electionnight majority cut to 12 votes. The Helensville returning officer, Mr L. J. McKeown, said that 15 votes at one polling place had been wrongly credited to Mr Jones. The votes should have gone to Mr Jones’s rival, Labour’s Mr J. A. Elder. The official count of votes cast on election day, excluding special votes, shows that

I Mr Jones had 7399 votes; Mr Elder 7387; and Social Credit’s Mr D. J. Howes, 6104. Election-night figures gave Mr Jones a 44-vote majority over Mr Elder. The discovery of a mathematical error last week reduced it to 42. Mr McKeown hopes the final result for Helensville will be declared on Wednes- , day or Thursday. He said, “The final result i will depend on how the counting of special votes goes. I would expect that there will be about 1800 , special votes which will count.” In the 1978 election, Mr Jones gained 761 special votes and Mr Elder, 679.