CITY ELECTORS' ROLL

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2141, 6 May 1914, Page 7

CITY ELECTORS' ROLL

. e ■ ITS SERIOUS IMPERFECTIONS. • Foi' the past week the staff of the Chief City Returning Officer (Mr. Jas. Ames) has been closely engaged in a scrutiny of the roll used at the Mayoral election on Wednesday last. An inquiry .'was'made yesterday as to -whether any ' cases of dual voting had been discovered, and tho answer given was that there were dozens of instances of apparent dual voting, but that did not necessarily mean that there had actually been any breach cf tho law. In nearly every caso the position appeared to be attributable either to the mistako bv the Returning Officer in a booth .in calling the wrong number, or by tho poll clerk in writing the wrong number, on the turned-back corner of the ballot paper. Such mistakes were almost bound to occur in booths during rush hours. ' 'During the course of the inquiries made it was freely admitted that thero might easily be as many as 5000 names , on. the roll that were not .represented by people-' now resident in Wellington. ( ■ That position would be possible because ■ the basis of the present roll was the main roll,' which was printed for tho elections of 1912. that time, however, hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of people had left the city for tho suburbs, or for other parts of New Zealand, and oversea ports, whilst a proportion ' had been removed by natural causes. The only way to produce a perfect roll was to prepare a new one for every election, but this would mean a great amount of work and a great expenditure of tho city's funds. Tho result of the official scrutiny of tho roll and revised count, will not bo known until to-day. It will probably be announced by tho Mayor at the special 1., meeting of thOjCpuncil.,which.assembles ■ V.,at.noon to-day.'. "'