PREPARING THE ROLLS

Evening Star, Issue 22143, 25 September 1935, Page 8

PREPARING THE ROLLS

MANY STILL DISENFRANCHISED r.'ISH OF ENROLMENT APPLICATIONS A—-—■■■ Many qualified electors whose names were purged from the roll through noncompliance with the law requiring them to notify changes of address are now hastening to have their names included in the supplementary rolls. Fully 400 applications for enrolment are being received daily by the registrar of electors, whose staff has been increased to cope with the rush of work. Activity by party organisers • and the Continuance Party in the various electorates has resulted in the flood of applications, but it is apparent that thousands are still disenfranchised. Over 10,000 names were removed from the five rolls, following the return of envelopes, marked “ Gone—no address.” It is statutorily incumbent on voters, even when removing their residences within the electorate in which they voted at the last election, to notify the registrar of the change, and the return of letters to the office is accepted as authority for the purging of the rolls. When the main rolls closed the voters totalled as follow, the full figures at the closing of the supplementary roll in 1931 being given in parentheses:— Dunedin North, 10,200 (12,926). Dunedin West, 9,316 (12,382). Dunedin Central, 10,160 (13,180). Dunedin South, 10,461 (13,623). Chalmers, 8,425 (9,560).

The preparation of the supplementary rolls is now in progress, and, taking the dates four years ago as a guide, they will probably bo closed early in November.