WHEN MAORIS VOTE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 511, 14 November 1928, Page 1

WHEN MAORIS VOTE

DECLARING FOR DESIRED CANDIDATE NO ROLLS BALLOT-BOXES The taking of the Maori votes necessarily requires a different procedure from that adopted at the European election. There are no rolls and, in effect, the method employed is voting by declaration. The deputy-returning officer and his assistant, both of whom have a knowledge of Maori, sit together in a room to which the electors are admitted singly. The voter gives his name, age, tribe, sub-tribe and place of abode. He also states whether he is on any European electoral roll. When he has given satisfactory proof of his eligibility to vote, and the particulars are entered, the deputy reads out the names of the candidates to him and asks which candidate he wishes to vote for. The name of the candidate selected is then written down upon the paper, which is witnessed by the assistant. The voter is not required to write anything, or even to make his mark. At the close of the poll the votes are counted in the usual way. The fact of being enrolled as an elector for a European constituency does not bar a half-caste native from voting at a Maori election if he so chooses. He is warned, however, that having voted he must not do so again at the European election the following day.