THE WAY TO VOTE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2207, 21 July 1914, Page 4

THE WAY TO VOTE

MR. AMES FAVOURS THE CROSS. / Apropos of tho discussion which took place at tho Municipal Conference last week in regard to tho best way of tnark> ing voting papora, Mr. James' Ames (Returning Officer) totally disagrees with- those delegates who urged that the cross was confusing and it wopld Ih» better to revert to the old . method whereby a voter scored out th,e ,)iame» of tljose candidates.for whom he did not wish to vote. Mr. Ames emphasised his argument in favour of the proEs by producing an old City Council ballot paper, containing tho names of thirtysix candidates, and asked the question; "\s it easier for the voter to score out the names of thoso for whom ho does hot intend to vote, or to place a nross opposite the names for those whom he wishes to vote?" .Viewed from that standpoint, the cross is 'certainly tho oasiost and most' expeditious.f The Chief Returning' Officer states, too, that when scoring out names the average voter is not content to draw a single pencil mark through n name, but with great industry makes half a dozen marks—tho clerks sitting yards away from the voting places hear them at it. If they do that fifteen or sixteen times, the operation probably takes from fiyo to- ten minutes, whilst tho jotting down of crosses can be done in «o many seconds. Mr, Amos also indicated how much simpler and quiokor the cross method is to the plumper, and, correspondingly, what a task is his. if he has to score out thirty or moro names out of the total.