MUNICIPAL VOTING PAPER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20089, 4 May 1927, Page 9

MUNICIPAL VOTING PAPER.

DELAY CAUSED AT POLLS. WELLINGTON OFFICIAL'S COMPLAINT. (Special to Daily Tikes.) WELLINGTON, May 3. Mr J. E. S. Perry, returning officer for the Wellington municipal elections, expressed himself fairly freely to-day ou the subject of the new method of voting introduced at the recent elections; Although there were a good many spoilt papers, the electors had tried to vote intelligently, but the time occupied in having to strike out so many names proved very annoying to some, for the voters —even those who voted quickly - ~ had to count up three or four times before the number was sufficiently reduced. In a large number of cases the voter took fully a quarter of an hour to record on every issue, and, in a few instances, much longer was taken. “ The new method is an absolute failure,” emphatically declared Mr Perry. Only a certain number of persons were allowed in the polling booths at one time, and there were always several waiting. It was just as well that the poll was a light one. Had 75 per cent, of the electors gone to the poll he did not know how they would have got them all through. The extra time taken in voting was bad enough; but in a large city, where the facilities for polling stations were few, ■ it was a big consideration. “If all the people on the roll had turned up we could not have handled them, and there would have been serious difficulty. Where the ratepayers or electors have the right to vote for more than, one candidate, or one issue, they should have the right to vote with an “X,” as they used to do. “ There were 2767 informal ballot papers. These 2000 odd informal votes were, with a very few exceptions, careful votes,” said Mr Perry, “ but not quite careful enough. That is, the elector left in* one name too many, and in some cases two. I am very definitely of the opinion that the new system is not as good as the old.”

AUCKLAND’S EXPERIENCE

MANY INFORMAL VOTES. A REPORT TO BE PREPARED. (Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, May 8. The methods of voting at municipal ant local body elections will probably be dii* cussed at the next conference of the Municipal Association, for it ie the intention of the Auckland city returning officer (Mr P. F. Notley) to prepare a special report •on last week's ejections for the City Council with a view to having the subject raised. The large number of informal votes in the elections, particularly in that for the_ Auckland City Council, will' be emphasised in the report. In the four elections conducted by Mr Notley no fewer than 7224- ballot papers were rejected as informal. In the mayoral election the informal papers totalled 228; in the council election 5232; in the _ Auckland Hospital election 2353, and in the Auckland Harbour ooard election 1431. The causes of the informalities have already been discussed, but it_ is interesting to note that the number of informal vote* increased in proportion to the size of tha ballot papers. . Mr Notley stated that he was in favour of the decision as to the method of voting being left to the local authorities. The deletion method was quite all. right when there was only a small margin of candidates over the number of vacancies to be filled but it was absurd in such an election as that of last Wednesday, when there were 51 candidates for 21 seats. (