[PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1902. INFORMAL VOTES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10819, 9 December 1902, Page 4

[PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1902. INFORMAL VOTES.

The number of informal votes' at every general, election indicates that an appre6f those entitled to exercise the franchise arc for some reason incapable of doing so properly, ,wirh the rerfult til at their votes are cast out by, the Returning Officers -and scrutineers for informally. „ The .instructions printed -on the. voting papers are plain enough, and anyone of ' ordinary ititejligerice 'slrould have no 'difficulty in following them., but results prove, that quite a number of electors ,

fail to do bo and render- their votes invalid

consequence.* Many people fail to erase the required number, of candidates' names and leave, m, more than the required number. They do^ this because they think A and B, for instance, are to C.. ,Dj E, and F, quite forgetting that only one seat has, to- be* filled in most electorates, and but r three in each of the four cities of New Zealand. Then again ,is a waste of voting power in the matter of the Licensing polls owing to, the continued appeal, by those, anxious to carry -Prohibition, to electors to "Strike out tirfr top line. 5 ? Many illiterate or stupid people follow this instruction literally and" cross , out the , first line on .the voting, paper, wHich simply contains the two worde "Local- Option," .the second' line reading ."I .vote that the number of licenses existing in the district continue." It ia this second line that the .opponents of the licensed,. sale of liquor are so .anxious, to •have crossed .put, and. which so many' .pf their supporters- fail to erase in consequence of having 1 been so often instructed to score out "the tqp line"! Th,e, fact of the. matter, 'is that a Targe number of people possess the franchise who, f;om defective education or natural dullness, are quite, incapable of exercising it intelligently, or' in the 'way they desire. , The consequence is that thousands of informal , votes have to be cast aside at every general election. It is hard to prescribe an efficient remedy fpr this weak spot in our electoral machinery, as there are always people who cannot be kept from blunlining. As for instance, a man who 'held strqj£g anti-Prohibition, views' struck out the first and third lines of the -Local Option issues, thus, voting in favour of a reduction of licenses. When asked by " a' friend, to" whom v he confided what he had doSe, why* he L had voted for reduction, he ' replied^ "Well, you see, I thought it 'was time'^he pubs reduced "beer to 3d a pint"! He, voted in' favour of "reduction," it is true'; but it was not the kind of "reduction" thai; he, mistakenly imagined he was voting in favonr of! < >

Writing on the ■ question , of informal r i-)ltotes, : the.N'.Z./TinieH"of-:>th6"gth inst. says: — "The large loss of votes caused by infofmal papers, the result as often "of ignorance as of carelessness,' has. caused a considerable amount of comment. - In the Wellington City election over 30Q of the votes cast were invalid, while in the local option poll the number was oyer 750. . For the whole colony it is estimated that from ■ 4000 to 5000 votes were lost. ' Such a leakage is a^yery serious matter, and has led to schemes for simplifying the manner of voting. The most feasible method suggested so far is that of Sir William Steward. He Suggests that voting papers should \>e abolished. Each candidate should have a bos set apart' for 'his votes, with his name npon.it, and, perhaps" for the convenience ,of illiterate .voters, his photograph. ' The voter, upon entering the poll-clerk's room, should receive a' ticket bearing his, nuniber and the distinguishing' stamp of the polling booth. -The ticket should be enclosed in an envelope and scaled up, and the voter would then jjrqcced, to the enclosure containing the ballot boxes and drop his paper into .-the box set apaft ' for 'the' candidate for whom he. wished to vote. The casting of informal votes, at least in single electorates, would thus he practically eliminated arid the counting wojild be a matter df the greatest simplicity. The only qtiestion is as to how the system would work in- electorates. Unless the secrecy of the. .ballot was violated by clerks -super.vising the actual voting, innumerable.foolish persons would cast more than one vote for a single candidate, " and it' would be necessary to open each envelope in. order to check the' Noting. Sir Joseph Ward is stated to partly approve Sir WMliam -.Steward's scheme, which will .be "brougjit under the notice of thp Government" # We do not think the .plan put -forward - by Sir W-. J. Steward would- recommend. ' itself to the electors of the colony, whose chief aim is vo,te by, ballot, i.e., in such a way that no one can discover, except the election officials, who are sworn f to secrecy, how they voted,' and_ the s^id officials only wh"en) a scrutiny is demanded and any particular votes are challenged on the grounds of -personation or dual ■voting. Sir W. J. "Steward's proposed system would undoubtedly frfil to satisfy the electors that thp present- secrecy of the ballot had been: preserved and the possibility of error entirely romoved.- Jf people had to go into^separate rooms to deposit their envelopes "in ,the boxes allotted to the various candidates -the process would be so tediously slow that numbers of electors would get tiTed of waiting' for their turn and would go away disgusted without votings whilst those who did .remain and vole would do so with strong misgivings as to the secrecy of the innovation. Anything that aims at the destruction of the secrecy of the ballot is a menace against the political liberty of thetpeople, and a help to their oppressors,' who would dismiss i thousands of their employee after every general election could they, but be certain how these had' voted. As it is a nuniber of employes refrain from applying to get • their, names on the electoral rolls in order to escape.' being asked to vote against their

wifihefi, or ' compelled to tell lies as --t^/htrtr they' votei when-'they\liaTe Veen qualified -to do.Io; Far more votes are lost in this way than by failure to comply with' the directions printed on the ballot papers, . It would therefore be a mistake to attempt 'to cure the latter evil by a remedy that would be in our opinion 'worse than the ailment. We notice that in. the Sixth. Reading Book now in use in the ' State schools of the colony there is a chapter' oft ■the -franchise and examples of how to use the ballot-papers. This is useful informa- • tion,- and will no doubt be read in many ■ homes by people who have long passed school age without learning the rudiments ' of political -.methods or electoral •• proee-' dure. "* <