DOUBTFUL SEATS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 4, 30 September 1943, Page 4

DOUBTFUL SEATS

Situation Remains Unchanged VOTING BY FORCES Steps To Ensure Secrecy No fresh developments occurred yesterday to alter the situation in those electorates where the issue is still in doubt because the absent, postal, seamen’s and declaration ballot papers are far in excess of the small margin of votes between the leading candidates shown by tlie preliminary counts. Till all these outstanding votes are counted and the official returns compiled there must be uncertainty as to what the state of the parties will be In the new House of Representatives. Figures for the doubtful seats wore the same last night as those published yesterday morning, no more supplementary returns from tbo armed forces having come to hand during the day. Doubts which have been expressed regarding the secrecy of the ballot as far as members of the forces are concerned, because their names and regimental numbers appear on the butts of the ballot papers, a consecutive number appears on the butt and ballot paper, and the form of'declaration is pinned to the envelope containing the votes, were replied to last evening by the chief electoral officer, Mr. L. Irwin. He said any doubts were immediately dispelled once the system of dealing with the votes was known. Briefly, the position was as follows: — The outer envelope was opened. The sealed envelope containing the vote was endorsed with the name of the electorate shown on the declaration form and the envelope was then placed in a locked ballot-box for the particular electorate for which the serviceman voted. The declaration and the sealed vote were entirely disassociated and were not brought together again unless the declaration was found to be incorrect. In the presence of scrutineers the vote was then set aside as informal. The declarations were parcelled up and sealed. The ballotboxes were opened up, the votes extracted from the envelopes, sorted, and counted. Presence of Scrutineers. “Should a declaration be inadvertently included in the envelope by the voter, the envelope is opened and the declaration extracted,” said Mr. Irwin. “The envelope is then re-sealed without reference to the votes, and the same procedure as above is carried out. Scrutineers are present throughout. t “So far as the ‘consecutive number is concerned, its sole purpose is to ensure that if dual voting-occurs., i.e., where a cheek of the declarations discloses beyond doubt that two votes have been cast by one elector, the votes of that elector may be extracted and disallowed. To do this, all butts have to be checked and the ‘consecutive number’ found. The ballot papers then have to be searched to locate the corresponding ‘consecutive number. By law the returning officer is bound to ensure that the- faces of any ballot papers handled in this search are not seen by any person. The ballot-paper is then extracted without reference to how the vote was cast, and sealed in an envelope market! ‘disallowed.’ This cheek is made by the returning officer and his staff in the presence of a justice of the peace and scrutiuneers from all parties. Even for a trained electoral staff, a search for a disallowed vote is a very lengthy and tedious procedure. Declaration of Secrecy.

“This is the only occasion on which the butts of ballot-papers are referred, to, and then only in the presence of the justice of the peace and scrutineers. The law provides very heavy penalties for infringement of the secrecy of the ballot, and all persons who handle votes in any way are required to complete a declaration of secrecy. “After the official count, all butts and ballot papers are kept in the custody of the clerk of the House of Representatives, in sealed packages, for one. year, after which period they are burned in the presence of the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Clerk of the Writs,” said Mr. Irwin. “At every step, from the time the booth opened to the time the ballot-papers are destroyed, every possible precaution is taken to ensure that no person is able to ascertain how arty vote was cast.”