THE BRUCE PROHIBITION POLL.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 680, 19 March 1903, Page 20

THE BRUCE PROHIBITION POLL.

DECLARED VOID ON PETITION. Mr Cruickshank, S.M., gave his judgment on the petition against the validity of the prohibition poll in the Bruce Licensing district on Thursday last. He declared the poll void mainly on the ground that proper polling hours were not observed at Mamuka Creek, Berwick and Waitahuna Gully, which were distinct breaches of the second sub-section of the common law of elections. On the question of violation of the secrecy of the ballot, Mr Cruickshank had this to say of some of the irregularities at the Bruce licensing poll : “ The evidence shows that in fourteen instances voters entered the inner compartment, together or otherwise, and completed their voting in company. These couples were generally husband and wife, or parent and child, or two intimate friends. The Milburn polling booth had its inner compartment closed nearly all day, the. voting being done on the back desks of main room, not a large one. In one instance one lady says she did the actual stnkipg out for her friend. In another case the wife of a deputy returning officer at Milburn, during a short absence of her husband, seems to have suggested to an old voter how to exercise his privilege. I have to decide the question whether these breaches of the secrecy of the ballot tended to defeat the fairness of the election. As the majority was over thirty, I do not think the proved cases affected the result. I think that in the majority of cases the voters had made up their minds before entering, and that neither side won nor lost votes by the practice. The law, however, expects each voter to vote alone and secretly, free from tuition, oversight, intimidation, suggestion or parental or marital control. If the stronger minded are to be allowed to vote in couples along with their weaker friends, how can such a procedure be fair, even if it does not affect the result? I think in this election its tendency is to defeat the fairness) of the election.