THOSE WHO VOTED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21186, 5 November 1938, Page 22

THOSE WHO VOTED

Record Percentage Figure For Dominion Preliminary calculations, which are subject to meticulous checking before confirmation, show that the percentage of votes cast at the General Election to the total effective roll of the Dominion was 92.85, a record figure. The total roll number was 995,199, the number of valid votes 917,689, and the number of informal votes 6396. Votes recorded numbered 924,085, making the total of non-voters 71,115. The previous highest percentage of votes cast was 90.92 in 1925, when compulsory registration was introduced and the natural consequence was a heavy poll. For the past eight General Elections the percentages are as follows: 1914, 84.66; 1919, 80.53; 1922, 88.65, 1925, 90.92; 1928, 88.05; 1931, 83.26; 1935, 90.75; 1938, 92.85. Although the number of non-voters is large its significance, if any, is offset by the record percentage of votes cast. Again, several factors must be taken into consideration, such as the absence of registered electors from the Dominion well before the election and the religious objections of an appreciable number of persons to voting on a Saturday. Many people leave New Zealand for abroad towards the end of the summer and do not return until the beginning of the next summer, and although their names appear on the roll they do not vote. A few hundreds here and there, together with those who do not vote in any case, regardless of the facilities offered, will make up a substantial total of non-voters for any election. In New South Wales, where compulsory registration and compulsory voting obtain, the percentage of votes cast is invariably higher than in New Zealand, the figure for the election held in March last being 95.78. There even persons with conscientious objections to voting are required to go to the polling-place and apply for exemption.