How to Vote

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 510, 13 November 1928, Page 12

How to Vote

HINTS WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Procedure .at the Booth

MOST of the people in New Zealand have made up their minds how to vote at to-morrow’s General Election poll. The last, and the simplest, precaution, is to see that their votes are recorded formally at the ballot box. busmens premises must close for the afternoon, and hotels aie compelled to shut at noon. The booths open at 9 a.m., and close at 7 p.m.

It is the law that a public, halfholiday shall be observed from lioou on the day of election of members to Parliament, and on the day when a licensing poll is taken. In factories, employers are compelled to give their- workers half an hour off in the day for the purpose of recording their votes. Hotels, too, are compelled to close at noon for the remainder of the day. A misunderstanding has arisen in the past few days in yespect to the & « % asassK&aeggassKSKacasai

half-holiday. The . Licensing Act, in declaring a public half-holiday, goes no further than the necessity for premises embraced by the Electoral Act, and factories are permitted to work provided they allow their employees up to an hour to vote. This half-holiday for the election takes the place of the usual weekly half-day, although in some industrial awards a full day’s work on Saturday Is prohibited. In these instances the Saturday half-day will be observed just the same. At the polling booths the procedure is the simplest that could be imagined. The ballot paper is given to the voter by the returning officer, and a private compartment is provided in the booth for the recording of the vote. A person who interferes in any way with the ballot paper, by writing upon it or marking it in any way other than that specified, votes informally. It is illegal to talk to a fellow elector in the polling booth. Where a woman has changed her naihe by marriage and her mai-ried name does not appear on the roll, she is e.ntitled to vote in the right of her former name if it appears on the roll. POINTS OF PROCEDURE If a person's name cannot be found

on the roll, and the elector is convinced that he has registered, the returning officer will look for the name in a different spelling For instance a man who says his name is registered as O’Connor might find upon investigation that it has been entered as Connor. The returning officer will rectify this error, and allow the elector to vote if he is satisfied upon his Qualifications. If a ballot paper is spoiled by the voter, he may secure another by returning the spoiled one to the returning officer. A blind or disabled voter may be assited to vote by the returning officer in the presence of scrutineers. Electors whose applications for registration reached the Registrar of Electors after C- p.m. on the day of the issue of the writs, October 19, when the supplementary roll closed, will not be able to vote, either as ordinary voters or by making a declaration, and they have each been notified by special letter to that effect. Those whose applications are valid will be registered after the election. VOTE ON LIQUOR ISSUE - On the licensing poll the voting is equally simple to that of the Parliamentary election. The returning officer will answer the questions of doubtful electors upon subjects of procedure, and everything is conducted under the eyes of the scrutineers of the respective parties. The alteration of the electoral boundaries has affected some of the Auckland districts so far as their licences are concerned. Some who have been transferred from no-licence districts to licence areas will not be allowed to vote on the question of restoration, but those who have been included in a licence area from a no-license locality will have the advantage of voting for or against restoration. Everyone, of course, will be eligible to vote on the general question of prohibition and continuance.

A controversy was created at the time the provisional boundaries were gazetted last year. The commissioners had removed from the Parnell electorate all hotels, leaving the district without a licence. This meant in effect that no licensing committee would be required, and the race meetings in that district would not be allowed a liquor booth. INFORMAL VOTES Such a discussion was occasioned about it at the time that one of the hotels in Newmarket was shifted back over the boundary into the electorate of Auckland East, giving this area the right to a licensing committee. In spite of the simplicity of the voting at the booths, the record of informal votes is usually high. Quiet care without elaboration of the instructions is all that Is required, however, and all that the elector has then to do is to wait for the numbers to go up after the closing of the polls.