VOX POPULI.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 97, 7 December 1911, Page 6

VOX POPULI.

THE RIGHT TO VOTE. HOW ELECTORS HAVE GONE TO THE POLLS. ARE WOMEN LOSING INTEREST ? Now that the elections are at hand it is of interest to note that on the last occasion, of 537,003 persons on the rolls, 428,648 only exercised their i ight to vote. This was 79.82 percent. of the total number enrolled, a considerably lower- proportion of voters than at the previous elections, when 83.25 per cent, of those otr the rolls voted.

Of the 291,073 men on the rolls, 238,534 used their votes, while of the 242,930 women enrolled only 190,114 went to the poll. This meant that the proportion of male voters to those eligible was 81.11 per cent., as against 84.07 per cent, in 1905, while only 78.26 of the women on the rolls voted, compared with 82.23 at the previous election. In giving these figures the Registrar-General remarked that there was no evidence of a greater willingness on the part of females to go to the poll. In this connection it is worthy of note that the exercise of their voting power by women has for some tinm past been much less thorough than in the case of men, though at first the right was taken advantage of very freely. In the following table comparison is made between the proportions of male and female voters to the number of each sex on the rolls at each general election subsequent to the granting of the franchise to women

Thus it will be seen that, whereas at their first opportunity to exercise their vote the women electors went to the polls in .much greater force than the men, on the next occasion their

interest had waned very considerably, while at all subsequent elections they have evinced less interest than has been displayed by the male voters. In this, it musjt lie understood, comparison is not being made between the actual number of male and female voters, lint between the proportion of each sex who went to the polls to the total number of each who were entitled to vote. How the number of those who actually voted has voided is shown in the next table:—

Election Year. Males. F einales. 1893 ... ... 69.61 85.18 1896 ,... ... 75.90 70.-14 J Sf99 ... ... 79.06 75.70 1902 ... ... 78.44 7-1.52 1905 ... ... 84.07 82.23 1908 ... ... 81.11 78.20

eotion Year. Males. Females. 1893 ... 129,792 90,290 1896 ... 1-19,471 108,783 1899 ... 159,780 119,550 1902 ... 180,291 138,565 1905 ... 221,011 ] 75,0-16 1908 ... 238,534 190,114