TO-DAY’S POLLING

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 191, 11 May 1938, Page 13

TO-DAY’S POLLING

Local Body Elections POINTS FOR VOTERS How Papers Should Be Marked Busy attending to final details concerning to-day’s local body elections, Mr. J. Norrie, returning officer, was a much-occupied man yesterday. He said, however, that all was in readiness. He had, he thought, very good staff, and everything should go smoothly. For Wellington city voters there were only the four elections —mayoralty, city council, hospital board and harbour board —to be considered. There were no loan proposals to complicate the day’s duties of the staff, so that they should complete their task In reasonably good time. Mr. Norrie considered that the first returns from the smaller booths would begin to arrive at the Town Hall at about 7.30 p.m. When the last ones would arrive was uncertain. Mr. Norrie explained that the voting papers were in different colours —white for the mayoralty, pink for the city council, yellow for the hospital board and green for the harbour board. One very important thing for all electors to remember was to vote for the correct number of candidates required for each body. For the mayoralty there is, of course, only one to be returned; for the city council, 15; for the hospital board, 13; and for the harbour board, 4. Electors may vote for fewer than these numbers of candidates but if more than the number specified are voted for this invalidates the voting paper. The polling booths, which have been enumerated in the advertising columns of “The Dominion,” will be opened at fl a.m. and will close at 7 p.m. Marking of Papers. As to the manner in which a voting paper is to be marked, the instructions io deputy-returning officers read as follows: —Voters are to mark a cross (X) in the square provided on the ballot paper against the names of the candidates for whom they desire to vote. Ln the event of any other means being adopted by the voter to indicate the person voted for, the vote is to count as a valid vote provided the voting paper clearly sets out the intention of the voter, but if there is af doubt the paper should be set aside to be determined by the returning officer.

On the subject of spoilt voting paper the instructions to deputies read as follows:—Any voter who satisfies the. deputy returning officer that he has spoilt a voting paper by inadvertence is entitled to be supplied with another voting paper after the spoilt one has been returned to the deputy. The deputy is to endorse the spoilt voting paper by writing across it the words •‘spoilt by voter and another voting paper issued in lieu thereof,” and initial the endorsement. All spoilt voting palters are to be kept together. Voting by Declaration. The Local Elections and Foils Amendment Act, 1920, provides:—(l) Where any person, on making application for a voting paper at any election or poll held or taken under the principal Act, is informed by the returning officer or a deputy returning officer that it does not appear from the official copy of the roll in the posses sion of such officer that he is entitled to vote, such person may -vote at such election or poll on making a declaration in the required form that he was entitled by virtue of a proper qualification to have his name entered on the roll prepared for the purposes of such election or poll and that he had reasonable cause to believe that his name was entered on such roll. (2.) Every person who votes under the authority of this section shall enclose his voting papers in an envelope which shall be sealed by him in the presence of the returning officer or deputy returning officer. The envelope and declaration shall be numbered by the returning officer or deputy returning officer and the voting papers shall then be deposited in the ballot-box by the voter.

All votes by declaration are to be dealt with by the deputy returning officer in charge of the polling place (if there is no deputy returning officer tqiecially appointed t.o be iu charge, the deputy in charge of No. 1 booth will assume control). Declaration votes are to be kept a.part and not included in the count but are to be forwarded to the returning officer for investigation.

■There are no company votes in municipal elections.

COUNTY ELECTIONS

Voting Qualifications Although any resident over the age of 21 years may vote in elections for seats on boroughs in the counties, the position as to voting for various county election scats is much more complicated. Any person whose mime appears on the roll is entitled to vote in a county riding election provided he is either a ratepayer or a representative of a company. The fact that a ratepayer has a vote because he is on the electoral roll does not in county elections give his wife a vote, and the fact that the wife is the ratepayer on the roll does not give her husband a vote. Hutt County. In tlie Hutt county the ratepayers are interested in seven elections, as follows: — (1) For the hospital board for the combined districts of the county of Hutt and the borough of Lipper Hutt, these two local body rolls being joined together to make one roll, and the electors having the right to vote on the combined roll. Those on the Upper Hutt borough roll are placed on the municipal franchise, but the county roll is simply a list of ratepayers. If .the ratepayer is purely a county ratepayer, he or she gets only one vote. (2) For the Hutt Valley Power Board, for the constituent district of the county of Hutt. This district is made up of all th; ridings in the Hutt county, with the exception of the Whareroa riding, and of a few people south of Paekakariki Hill. (3) For the Wellington Harbour Board, Hutt county electors are interested in this election for the combined districts of the counties of Hutt and Makara, the boroughs of Petone. Lower Hutt, Eastbourne, and Upper Hutt, and the town district of .Johnsonville. AU the electoral rolls of these districts are grouped together and made into one roll. x There arc separate elections for four ridings in the Hutt county— (l) Pori-

rua riding, (2) Epuni riding, north-east of Lower Hutt, I'3l Heretaunga riding, on botli sides of the Upper Hutt borough, (1) Wainui-o-mata riding, comprising the eastern bays between Lower Hutt and Eastbourne boroughs, also the large area along the Wainui-o-mata Hoad to Orongorongo. For the hospital board, power board, and harbour board elections it is a case of one man one vote, but for any of the riding elections electors are entitled to one, two, or three votes according to the number shown on the rating electoral roll. Holders of propertyup to the value of £lOOO are entitled to one vote, those with*up to £2OOO to two votes, and those with over £2OOO to three votes. This applies also to the voting for the Hutt River Board. The district, of the Hutt River Board consists of the whole of the Lower Hutt borough, the Epuni riding of the Hutt county, and a small portion of I’etone, that is, the residential area east of Williams Street. The polling booths in Wellington for the Hutt River Board election are the Dominion Farmers’ committee room. Featherston Street, and the Hutt County Council chambers. .Makara County. For Makara county the elections are as follows: —For the hospital board, the district is the county of Makara and the town district, of Johnsonville. Most of the county ratepayers will no doubt record their votes at the Wellington booth at the Hutt County Council buildings in Bowen Street. Tlie polling hours are between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. County ratepayers who are on the Hutt. River Board roll can record their votes at this booth, but they must remember that the Hutt River Board polling is open only between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.