MAORI POLL ON NOVEMBER 26

Chronicle (Levin), 5 November 1946, Page 6

MAORI POLL ON NOVEMBER 26

Maori eleetors will go to the polis to clioose their four representatives for the new Parliament on Tuesday, November 26. It is customary to hold these elections a day earlier tlian those for the European seats, mainly to avoid confusion at the polling places as a result of the overlapping of constituencies. Each of the three Maori electorates in the North Island covers a number oi European electorates. Except for the fact that there is no electoral roll, Maori elections are conducted along the eanie lines as those for Europeans. Each booth is in the charge of a deputy-returning oflicer and an associate, usually a Maori or a halfeaste, who ■ is the counterpart of the European poll clerk. For those cou .stituents unable to read or speah Englisli, the associate explains the pro-* cedure in. Maori. On entering the polling booth, the elector is required to complete a deciaration form. He has to give his name and abode and the tribe and hapu to which he belongs and to declare tha' he is a bona fide resident of the electorate, has reached the age of 21, that he has not. already voted at the election under his own name or any otlier name, that he is not registered on a European roll and that he is not for any reason , disqualified from voting. Ilis signature' on the form is witnessed by the deputyreturning officor. A provision in the Electoral Aet, 1927, that the deputy-returning offieer or his associate should ask the elector whom ,he wanted to vote for and write the name of the eandidate on the vot ing paper for hiin was repealed several years ago. Today the Maoris nse the same form of ballot papers as Europeans. Oflicials of the Native Department say cases of plural voting by ' Maoris rarely come to their notice.