Little Use Made Of Secrecy In Ballot

Wanganui Chronicle, 1 June 1948, Page 5

Little Use Made Of Secrecy In Ballot

The Czech nation voted at the general elections in an atmosphere of complete calm, with no demonstrations at least in the capital reports the “Times’ ’’ Prague correspondent. The great majority of voters voted publicly and did not bother to go behind the screen to place the voting paper in the ballot box. The screen was, in fact, placed beyond the ballot box in many polling booths. On the other hand in the booth where the correspondents were taken, voters were instructed to use the privacy of the screen, but that might have been for the benefit of the visiting correspondents. The “Daily Mail's’’ Prague correspondent said that many voters ostentatiously made a public vote because they feared the use of the privacy of the screen would classify them as "an enemy of the republic.” It is believed, however, that many antl-Com-munlsts beat the system by putting a blank in their envelope, stuffing the Government ticket in their pocket and then discarding the false blank voting paper supplied by the “underground."