NEXT MONTH'S POLLS

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 68, 22 March 1911, Page 4

NEXT MONTH'S POLLS

As there seems to be some doubt in the minds of the public regarding the voting qualification at the two municipal polls to be held during April— the water and drainage loan poll, on the 6th, and the election for Mayor and Councillors later in the month— we desire to explain the position. Ratepayers, freeholders, and their wives (or husbands, as the case may be) alone are entitled to vote at the loan poll; the residential clause does* not apply in this case, as it formerly did—and, indeed, does now—to ordinary municipal elections. The limiting of the voting right to ratepayers is based, of course, on the principle that only the people who will be called upon to find the money if the poll is carried should.have the power to decide whether or not the proposal is one to which they can give their sanction. This^ it will readily be agreed, is only right-and proper. As regards municipal elections, Parliament decided last session that the franchise (formerly possessed only by ratepayers, and those whose qualification was residential, who were on the roll) should be extended to all persons of either sex who were over twentyone years of age—in other words, municipal elections are henceforth to bedecided on the Parliamentary franchise. It does not follow, however, that' because a person was eligible to vote at the last election of Parliamentary representatives, and did vote, he will merely have to go to the polling-booth next month and record his vote in favor of any or either of the candidates for the Mayoral chair or for seats at the Council-table. He must first have his name placed on the electoral roll at the Town Clerk's office, after certifying that he has resid"d_ in Blenheim for three months and in New Zealand for one year, prior to his application. Ratepayers and residents whose names are already on the district electors' list will not. of course, have to register again; but

in the case of those whose right to vote is based on the Parliamentary franchise, it is essential that they should make special application to have their names placed on the list,' otherwise, when they go to the poll-ing-booth, they will be turned away. The ratepayers' list (for the loan poll) closes to-morrow, and the municipal list (for the municipal election) on April 12, so those who possess the right to vote either on the water and drainage loan proposal or at the election for Mayor and Councillors should at once take steps to. enrol if they desire to do so. It will be to the advantage of our Blenheim _ readers if they will peruse an adVertisement relating to the Mayoral election which appears in another part of this issue.