LOCAL ELECTIONS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 45, 21 August 1913, Page 8

LOCAL ELECTIONS

THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS PENALTIES AND MACHINERY. The Local Elections and Polls Amendment Bill, wheh is in charge of tho Hon. A. L. Herdman, was circulated to-day. Its main provisions are as under:— The assent of any person to his nomination as a candidate may be given by writing sent by post or affixed tr» the nomination or by telegraph. Immediately after ascertaining the number of votes recorded for each candidate the returning officer or deputy returning officer must announce the result of the voting at the polling place of which he is in charge. The duty of the returning officer will be to make arrangements for a scrutiny of the rolls as soon as possible after the close of the poll, and give notice in writing to each of the candidates or their scrutineers of the time and place \of the scrutiny, at which the only pefeons allowed to be present will be the returning officer and his assistant and one person appointed by each candidate as scrutineer. No candidate will be allowed to act as a scrutineer. If on comparing the rolls it appears that any person received a voting paper at one or more polling places, the returning officer will open the packets of voting papers used at those polling' places, select therefrom the voting papers on which the number corresponding tdthe name of that person appears, and disallow every vote appearing to have been given by that voter, but the returning offtcei i& prohibited from inspecting the faces of the voting papers so opened, and must take- care that no one else sees them. The packets of voting papers are to bo sealed np after the scrutiny, and tho returning officer will endorse on them a memorandum of the fact that certain voting papers have been taken out, specifying the name of the person to whom the same appears to nave been delivered. Further, he will set aside all voting papers that have been taken out, and seal and sign the package. On the completion of the strutiny the returning officer will open all the packets of voting papers used at the election and declare those candidates who have received the highest number oi votes to be duly elected. In cases of a tie the selection will be determined by lpt. t A 'voting paper is not to be deemed informal if the intention' of the elector is clearly indicated, although there may be some degree of irregularity. RECOUNTS. Within three days after the final declaration of the result of the poll any candidate may apply to a Magistrate for a recount, the application to be accompanied by a deposit of £10, and as soon as practicable thereafter the Magistrate will cause the recount to be made, giving at least two' day's notice of the time and place. Th© recount is to be made in the presence of the Magistrate, or of an officer appointed by him for the purpose, every care being taken for the preservation of the secrecy of the ballot. If on the recount the Magistrate finds that the declaration ot th& poll was incorrect he will order the' returning officeT to make an amended declaration, and may make inch order as to costs as he thinks fit. PENALTIES. Every person is liable to a fine not exceeding £20 who in any way interferes with any elector, either in the polling booth or while on his way thereto, with the intention of influencing him or advising him as to his_ vote, or prints or distributes mock voting papers, on the day of the poll or at any time during the three previous days, or while the poll is being taken makes any public demonstration having reference to the poll by moans of living figures, effigies, paintings, placards, or other like means. A fine not exceeding £50, or imprisonment for three months, is provided for anyone who publishes defamatory matter at election time ; and a fine not exceeding £50 is provided for tampering with the official mark on a voting paper. Any officer of .clerk in attendance at a polling booth is liable to two years' imprisonment who forges or counterfeits or destroys any voting paper, or puts into the ballot box any but the authorised voting paper, or has in his possession any other ballot paper than the one given him by the returning officer, or in any way interferes with any ballot box. Every person is liable to two years' imprisonment . who votes or offers to vote more than once at the same election, or fraudulently abstracts any Noting paper that has been' put into the ballot box, or is guilty of bribery, personation, treating or undue influence, and a fine of £50 is the penalty provided for making a false answer to a returning officer. Penalties are also provided for the infringement of secrecy by any person employed at the polling booth.