THE RECENT MUNICIPAL POLL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12861, 9 May 1905, Page 6

THE RECENT MUNICIPAL POLL.

TO THE.EDITOR. §5 , Sir,—Allow me to explain, roughly, th« modus operandi of managing our mUJucma] elections for Mayor and councillors,*and I will leave your readers to draw the» - ovvu conclusions. The returning officer reeei K , Ids instructions from the- town clerk to v make arrangements tor an election;* lie :; thereupon appoints a deputy for each. poll. ; _; ing booth and a number. of poll clertt, ax ; : \..;-. for each of the 14- polling booths, fcoini of.','. _ whom are not, in constant employment and others are strangers to the returning officer My experience of poll clerks is that bo'far a* fhj? actual polling is concerned they work with an intelligent enthusiasm,',.<-; but it is after the poll closej that if there bo an unscrupulous man, with an itching palm working in'the interest of a not too particular candidate, he could, it lie chose, vi;?; give his candidate a large number of votes, -' i.e., assuming that in each booth the count. ing of votes was carried out in the same : - manner as at the booth where I was acting. '--■;/.; as scrutineer. I understand that the method which I will now briefly describe was pretty . general. The poll is closed; then the sit poll clerks are seated in pairs at a table facing each other, three of whom have prepared sheets of paper for marking down each vote as it is called out by his partner from a pile of voting papers which the deputy has placed alongside of each pair. While this is going on at full pressure the deputy is kept" busy unfolding and examining voting papers, so as to keep the poll clerks going, for if ho had overlooked all the voting papers as they were read out the . result would not have been known for 24hours or more after the poll was closed, assuming ho was physically able to {stand the work after already working from- half-past eight a.m. to seven p.m. without scarcely time for refreshment. But what .about the "'- scrutineers? Well, in the booth* where I was there were two, representing'identical interests, and the third party; represented only one candidate. Now, sir, I want your readers to understand that this calling out of names and scoring, of votes went on for six and a-balf hours, with only twoispells of a few minutes for a snack had i smoke. You will not wonder when I confess that under such circumstances we scrutineers cannot vouch for all the names benjjr correcti >- read out, even of the jairs poll clerks which wo wore overlooking; il fact towards the end we took pity *on tin poll clerks and assisted them in their work, so that if we had been so inclined wd could have given A's vote to B an J n6 one would have been the wiser. Tie goring '■■' clerk has not got a good chance to rive a friend a notch, as the names are callai out so rapidly, but the reader could, uadcr\sueh circumstances as I have described) give' his friend scores of votes. Was this donfe?' I cannot of my own knowledge say itjwas, but I would suggest that in fufiro fetich j polling booths as Federal Hall aid Ponsonby should have considerably mere Clerical assistance. But six poll clerks apbear to have been expected to record anl; count the votes whether there were 17,000 «r only 2000. If such important work is to In done, we must not put men in the positon *eo that they are obliged to work 18 homy continuously, almost fasting, for 15s, anc find their own refreshment: in fact, I vouki not have been surprised if there bad 'jee'tt a strike. But my complaint is as to th« absurd system of counting the votes. ,- ', Now allow me to suggest a remedj. J think the candidates should be allowed to select half the poll clerks, then the! count-, ing could bo done by one representing the candidates end one the Council, with a' deputy for each pair; each set of papers so treated should be bundled up, togetlie-r with the scoring sheet with the three names signed thereon; then after the eletrion recount, as a test, three bundles of vces, and if fraud is detected, criminal pre leedings may bo taken. I think it would li better if half the councillors retired miually. Twenty-four candidates are too maty for a voter's selection. It fortunately happens that there is a largo number of rites between the successful and the, . unsuccessful candidate, otherwise I feel sure a Veeount would have been demanded, and pofcibly a fresh election.—l am, etc., V FoHEWAircm ! Ponsonby; May 1, 1905. \