TO VOTE FOR MAYOR AND COUNCIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 24, 29 January 1938, Page 8

TO VOTE FOR MAYOR AND COUNCIL

Municipal elections will be held this year, and the electoral rolls, including the names of all persons entitled to vote, are now being prepared. In Wellington the main roll has closed and names are being placed on the supplementary roll. Now is the time, therefore, for the people who'wish to vote to make their claim for the i right. Though a universal franchise for the election of borough mayors and councillors has been in operation for many years, there still appears to be some confusion'as to ./who is entitled to vote. Disregarding the special ratepayer, occupier, and freehold qualifications, every, adult who is-a British subject, and has resided in New Zealand for a year and in the borough for the three months last past, has a right to be enrolled. This franchise is as wide as that for the election of members of Parliament, but it must be carefully noted that the electoral rolls are not the same. The fact that a person is on the Parliamentary roll does not give the right to vote for the Mayor and council, or vice versa. Separate claims must be made for each right. Another point needing emphasis is that the right to vote is held only by persons whose names are on the roll. It is no strolling into an election booth on election day and claiming Voting rights then. The poll clerk" will turn up the roll and say: "Your name is not herp. You can't vote." At every election there are disappointed would-be voters who blame everybody but themselves. To save disappointment later it is necessary for every elector to see that his or her name appears on the roll; People who take a keen interest in municipal affairs can hejp materially by reminding their friends of this obligation.