NOT SO IMPORTANT

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 14

NOT SO IMPORTANT

FEW MAY BE ALLOWED

EOLLS IN BAD ORDEK

The right of electors to record their votes by declaration was given an importance in this year's municipal elections much greater than in past years, but the importance was greater in theory than in fact, for though over a thousand voters voted by declaration it is unlikely that any great proportion of those votes can be allowed. Every care is being taken in the examination of claims for such votes, and this year, with such small margins separating candidates, each vote, of course, may tell substantially. It appears probable that a considerably larger proportion of those declaration votes claimed on the ground of ratepayers' qualifications can be allowed than of declaration votes claimed on mere residential qualification. Those who sought a declaration vote were required to sign a form stating, firstly, that they were qualified to have their names placed on the roll; and, secondly, that when the roll was closed they had reasonable cause to believe their names had been entered on the roll. Both conditions must be fulfilled before the vote can be.allowed, and therefore qualification r.lone Joes not give the right to vote. , In the case of those claiming ratepayers' qualifications the likelihood of acceptance of the" declaration vote is good because the names of ratepayers are normally entered on the roll aa a part of office routine from the valuation roll; that is, the City Bates Office passes on the information it receives from the Valuation Department to the office in charge of the city roll, and the name of the ratepayer is duly entered up. Possibly" there are cases where this chain has not been, followed, but the fact that the person's name does appear on the valuation roll (though not passed on for inclusion in the roll) probably establishes the right to the declaration vote. A 9 the council staff is quite unable to know whether a ratepayer is married or single, the name of the wife (or husband)' cannot be included in the roll unless application has been made, but in these cases'the claim for a declaration ! vote is probably good; that is>, a wife oi" husband of a ratepayer whose namo is on the roll has a good claim to the declaration vote. MUST MAKE APPLICATION. Thero is no system by which the names of "residential^ can be made known to the council except by application from, they "residentials" themselves. The council cannot, of course, be expected to know that a person is thi9 year 21 years of age, that he has cpme to Wellington since the last election, or that he has taken unto himself a wife. Thus many who claimed the right tc\ vote by declaration cannot have that vote counted, as they cannot satisfy the second condition on the declaration form requiring that when the roll closed they had reasonable cause to believe j that their names lias been entered. If they did not make application they \ could not claim that they had "rea- ] sonablo cause to believe, etc." - Wives may be able to establish their ] right to declaration votes by virtue of the inclusion ;of their husbands' , names on the roll, but young people who have reached voting age since last election and hay not made appli-' cation for enrolment .would „probably be disappointed if they could' see, when the check is completed, the large pile of declaration votes not allowed. That, of course, serves them right; they failed to make application. ■ Before each election it is made clear that city Tolls are quite distinct'from State election rolls, and possibly" in the dim future that will bo generally realised, but polling officers grew tired this year of explaining the difference. Ono , virtue the declaration vote really did have; it made it possible for deputy returning officers to placate many irate people who believed their names should have been on the roll "because they had qualifications, but who had overlooked until too late that there was an obligation on them to call attention to those qualifications by applying for enrolment. BOLL TAR FROM CORRECT. There is no question that tho city rolls are in a very, bad shape indeed, through no fault of tho City Council rolls officers. There are on the main roll 49,300 names, and on tho supplementary roll, 4853' names, a total of : 54,153. The supplementary Toll is a genuine roll, except perhaps for deaths or removals since the date of application, but the main roll is now padded to an extent, which no one can estimate, by names that should havo been removed long ago. The council has no po^ver to purge the roll, nor has it power,to insist on application, and the result is that it contains hundreds, possibly thousands, of nameß of people who have moved away from Wellington during the last six or more years, names of .women since married,, and of deceased persons. An arrangement now holds whereby the council regularly receives notification of deaths of Wellington citizens, and these names are struck off, but this system has not been in operation for long, and there are on the main roll many names of citizens long dead. There is supposed to be a duty on electors to notify changes of address, but how many do this?. . / As a layman reads the Act it appears that the inclusion of a name on the roll gives the full right to vote, aiid consequently if Z.T.X. happens^ to be on holiday from Auckland —a visit after six years' absence —he can go along to a polling booth and cast his vote with the next man. Moreover, the inclusion of so many names of people deceased or absent from Wellington undoubtedly suggests the possibility of one person exercising more than one vote. It has been proposed more than once that the names of electors who do not vote at an election should be struck off forthwith and that they should be required to make fresh application before being enrolled for the following election, but municipalities have no such power, though that practice was followed some years ago. However, go padded and unweildy and untrue has Wellington's main Toll now become that the council will probably press again for authority to bring it into some reasonable order.