GONE—NO ADDRESS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3281, 28 June 1943, Page 7

GONE—NO ADDRESS

CLEANSING OF THE ROLL WORK NOW UNDER WAY PREPARING FOR THE ELECTION The double cleansing of the roll that is to be used for the coming general election is a somewhat unusual circumstance, brought about by the fact that there was no general election in 1941. The matter is involving the returning officer at Thames and his staff in additional work, and it may also cause some inconvenience to electors who do not understand the requirements of the law in relation to the necessity of notifying any change of address, even within the electorate, to the returning officer and the consequences of failure to do so. The roll was “cleansed” in the prescribed manner for the 1941 electron and a new main roll printed, but no supplementary roll was issued. As the general election was not held in that, year the roll prepared on that occasion is again being “cleansed” in preparation for this year’s election. Untraced Electors The “cleansing” involves the removal of names of persons who can-

not be traced at the address given on the last roll issued. The Electoral Department takes every possible precaution to ensure that the district rolls are accurate. Thousands of notices are sent out to electors with the simply inquiry as to whether they still live at the address previously given and if not provision is made on the notice form for recording the new address and forwarding it to the registrar. To electors who do not reply to the first notice a registered notice is also sent as an additional precaution to ensure accuracy, but if these are returned by the post office, as many have been, marked “Gone —No Address,” the returning officer has no option but to erase the name of such elector’ from the roll. If that happens, electors are themselves responsible because of failure to notify any change of address. The remedy for any elector who is in doubt as to his enrolment is to inspect the key roll, which is at the registrar’s office and ascertain if his or her name is still on the roll, as all other copies of the roll which may be out are now out of date. If a name has been removed through an elector’s own failure to fulfil an obligation, it can, by application to the registrar, be re-instated.