SECRECY OF THE BALLOT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1285, 14 November 1911, Page 4

SECRECY OF THE BALLOT.

NEW VOTING PAPER. The new style of voting paper which is to be used at the coming general election is so designed as to provido further security for the secrecy of the ballot. Hitherto the roll number of every voter has been written on one corner of the voting paper, and this corner has been turned down and gumnjed, so that the number was hidden. It was deemed necessary to iiavo tho number recorded in some way on each paper, so that, in the event of duplicate voting or personation, the returning officer could identify any paper that ought to be disallowed, but some people, when they saw their number marked on their ballot papers could not dispel a fear that someone might discover how they voted. Tho new ballot paper will not. bear the elector's roll number at all, but it will bear a number which will afford a less direct means of ascertaining the identity in cases where it may )>u necessary to do so. The voting papers will liavo li "butt," or counterfoil, from which each one will be torn, and they will bo liinde up-in blocks like cheque bnoks or receipt bnoks. The counterfoil will contain the elector's Toll number, but the voting paper itself will bear only a consecutive number, which will also be printed on the counterfoil. There will alto lie a device stamped across the perforation which separates the ballet paper from the butt, ami this will show at what booth the vote was recorded. The advantage of this feature is that if complaint is made as to the polling at any particular booth, it will not be necessary to examine any of the ballot papers from other booths. The stamp is also regarded as a precaution against bogus voting papers, because on every true ballot paper the two parts of (lie stamp would fit each other. The tracing of duplicate or plural voting will involve only the examination of tho butts from the particular booths where the voles were recorded, and not the ballot papers themselves, as under tho old system. The new svstem was used at the Christohureh North by-election, and it is stated that, it gave every satisfaction. Another innovation consists in (he tact that the voter will have to strike out. the names of the candidates for whom he does not wish to vole, instead of putting a oross opposite tho name of the man of his choice.