TOO MANY ISSUES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1740, 3 May 1913, Page 4

TOO MANY ISSUES.

Tub opinion appears to be very generally hold that too many issues were crowded into the ballots of Wednesday last, and that, it would be to the advantage of everyone if some of them were taken on a different occasion. As the law now stands, doctors may bo called on to vote on five separate matters at the one poll, _ namely—tho elections _of Mayor, City Councillors, Hospital and Charitabe Aid Board representatives, and Harbour Board members, and also as to tho day for the weekly half-holiday. This not only makes the occasion an ordeal for everyono concerned, but it also increases the possibility of confusion and error and is not calculated to produco the best results. Through being forccd to vote on so many issues at. the ono time, citizens aro also robbed to stmio extent of their privilege to cxerciso a full and free discrimination in the choice of the men they desire to see in the various offices. For instance, a man may bo a candidate for several offices: ho may contest scats on the City Council, Harbour Board, and Charitablo Aid Board, and the elector may desire to see him elected for ono of tho three, but not all three. He, however, cannot tell which particular position the candidate is most likely to win, and so to be on the safe sido votes for him for all three, and may thus assist tho candidate to victory in the three offices. This is not so unlikely to happen as.it may at first sight seem. The polling shows that those candidates who contested more than one offico received about tho same proportion of votes for each, and in tho case of the Harbour Boai'd and City Council elections threo out of four members elected to tho Harbour Board were also : elected to the Council, while the 'fourth had a very narrow escape of securing both positions. However, it may oo taken for granted that after their exporicnco of Wednesday last, both the electors and the polling officers realiso that the inclusion of so many issues in tho ono day's poll has serious disadvantages, which might be made even worse had there been more than two candidates fortho Mayoralty, and had tho halfholiday poll also been included. The simplest means of remedying tho situation is to divide the issues into_ alternate years. With the exception of tho Mayoral election, the other contests aro biennial, and there is no good reason why the Hospital and Charitablo Aid Board election and the weekly half-holiday poll should not be held in conjunction with the Mayoral election one year, whilo the City Council and Harbour Board elections oould be held at the same timo as tho Miyoral election of tho succeeding year. Some arrangement of this kind would certainly be an improvement on tho present state o! things. A correspondent, commenting on tho methods of polling pursued under our electoral system, suggests that it would bo a great improvement to introduce the system followed in England. At Home, as here, tho counting of tho votes polled is done tho samo night, but by a different staff, which thus comes_ to tho work fresh, and such experiences as an 18-hours' day for tho Returning Officer and his deputies is thus avoided. The method of recording tho vote, too, is different. Hero, on receiving tho voter's registered number from tho poll clerk, the deputy has to: (1) Write the number on (tho turnedclown corner of the ballot paper; (2) initial' it; (3) fasten it down securely; (4) put tho official seal on it; and then, not before, it is ready for tho voter. In England, ballot papers are printed in books, numbered, and perforated, like chequebooks. On the registered number of the voter being found by the poll clerk, all tho deputy returning officer has to do is to write that number on tho "stump" of the book and tear off and stamp tho ballot paper, which is then handed to the voter. Tho secrc'cy of tho vote is preserved by the "stump" of tho ballot book containing tho voter's number being locked away. Thero is nothing on the ballot paper itself to identify tho voter. This system may bo a good ono for uso in contests whore thero aro not many candidates, but in such elections as that held this week tho speed acivantago claimed for it by our correspondent is not apparent. In tearing out of a perforated ballot book such as do-, scribed, large-sized ballot papers containing so many names, somo caro would require to bo exorcised, and very little, if any, timo would bo gained as compared with tho method here. Still the whole question is ono deserving attention, and tho Municipal Association might take it up with acivantago.