THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1905

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1313, 29 April 1905, Page 2

THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1905

ftorosM] tho I'ioas mo People's itwlit maintain Ununeil by mSummo awl iinkilioJ by rwu I Horo patriot Troth In) <l 'rmin iirawpts ilim, riedred to Rnliirion Liberty, und L»t

THE "X" system of voting at muni, cipal elections is tho worst of any that has so far been adopted. We feel justified in saying so from the experience of the voters at tho election on Wednesday. Wo are referring to the voters of Waihi, but we have not the least doubt we shall soon hear that the experience in other parts of the colony has been somewhat similar. Wo have questioned a good many voters as to their opinion on tho system, and the reply was invariably the same, that the method is confusing and unsatisfactory. It saddens an elector when he finds that he has voted for the candidate or candidates he intended to vole ogaiflj/, and from all wo can hear there wero many sad electors in Waihi on Thursday. Not that any of the sad ones have told us, or anyone else, that they made a mis* take and voted for the wrong candidates. It is usually the case that an elector who makes a mistake, never likes people to know that he was too dense to understand the instructions, atid he therefore conceals the fact. But the voting papers are telling tho tale, without, of course, disclosing the names of the voters. Let us lake the election of councillors. There were fifteen candidates for ten seats. We understand that in hundreds of ballot papers five names had the cross marked io the blank spaceß opposite, demonstrating that the voters held tho idea that by marking tho «ros3.they were voting against the candidates whoso names appeared opposite, and that by leaving untouched the remaining ton spaces thoy were voting for the leu men. They thus unwittingly voted for the very persons they intended to reject. This was probably due to a notion by the voters that instead of scoiiitg the namo out they had to put a cross, Such mistakes may be duo also to the instructions given by electioneering touts. Under tho " X" system the voter who does not read the instructions ia completely at tho mercy of the canvasser for votes. If the intending voter is against his candidate, he can easily say," If you don't like so-and-60 put a cross opposite his name," Tho voter follows the advice, aud the result is a score for tho canvasser. In any case, electors bavo been so accustomed to scoring out tho names of candidates they do not wish to vote for, that years must elapse before the votes recorded under the new system can be said to be a true index ot the feelings of those who voted. To many people the marking of a cross is considered equivalent toslrikingottt. This ia shown by Ihe fact that in many of the ballot papers on Wednesday the cross was marked on the name instead of in tho space. Tho returning officer informs us that had it not been that ho was empowered by the Act to use his discretion in Iho matter he would have had to declare tho voles informal, aud at least a hundred votes would thus have been thrown away. Another thing against the "X" system is that it applies to municipal elections only. On the night before Ihe election of tho Mayor and Council thero was the election of the School Committee, and the method of voting was th old one of striking out the names,

Next day the same voters marked the cross, and when the Parliamentary and no-license votes are taken the striking out will again be in evidence, Fiist one style and then the other is very perplexing to electors generally, and especially lo women, and the sooner that one particular plan in adopted for all elections the better. The "X" plan had a fair trial on Wednesday, and as far as Waihi was concerned was a failure, and we surmise that, in other boroughs a failure will also be recorded. The strikingout method has been so well drilM into (he minds of electors oy the prohibitionists that everyone knows it thoroughly, anil it seems the better of the two, and by far the surer gunge of the public feeling. The question of whether the "X" plan should be any longer continued is one that we would like to see taken up by the Municipal Conference.