UNIFORM VOTING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 August 1926, Page 5

UNIFORM VOTING.

TN LOCAL ELECTIONS

ALIENS’ RIGHTS LIMITED

(Bv Telegraph.—Special to The Star.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 18.

After the passing of the Local Elections and Polls Amendment Bill, which has been introduced by the Rt. Hon. R. F. • Bollard, the mixed system of voting in local body elections will be changed to one uniform method of crossing out the name of the candidate or the proposal for which the voter does not desire to vote. The Hill contains a large number of machinery clauses designed to facilitate the work of returning officers. Candidates who wish to retire after nomination must give seven clear days’ notice, instead of three clear days, before the noil. The procedure for official marking or voting papers and the preliminary count is described, and there is provision for persons not on the roll to return a vote on making a, declaration that they have proper qualifications. The penalty for a false declaration is £SO. No person who is the subject of any State with which His Majesty is at war will he entitled to vote or to hold office on a local authority, while an alien, who will not for that reason he disqualified from voting at any local election unless specially disqualified, will not be entitled to be elected or appointed as a member of any local authority. Breaches of this section render the offender liable to three months’ imprisonment or a fine of £IOO.