POLLING DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26616, 12 November 1947, Page 4

POLLING DAY

VOTING PROCEDURE RIGHTS OF-ELECTORS At 9 o'clock next Wednesday polling booths throughout the city will be opened and electors will be able to record their votes in the 1947 local body elections. Booths will be well distributed throughout the city, and, unlike the proedure at general elections, an elector on the city rolls may vote at any booth in the town. The booths will remain open until 7 p.m. No provision is made at municipal elections for absentee votes. Ballot papers must not be taken outside the polling booth, so that even invalids in chairs must be brought into the booth. In certain conditions a person whose narrte is not on the roll and who declares that he has reasonable cause to believe that his name was on the roll may be allowed to vote upon signing a declaration. Every person who makes a false statement in any declaration is liable to a fine of £SO. The provision is not intended as a convenient means of securing a vote by any person who is not enrolled. Those persons who neglected to perform their statutory obligation to apply for enrolment would be committing a breach of the law if they made a declaration. The method of voting is simple. The elector first ascertains from an officer of the booth if his name appears on the roll. His name, address and occupation are checked and if his qualifications are in order he is handed four different coloured voting papers—for Mayor, councillors, Harbour Board and Hospital Board. The electors then votes by placing an X alongside the candidate or candidates for whom he desires to vote. Papers should be folded twice and then placed in the appropriate ballot boxes. The only persons authorised to be inside a polling booth are returning officers, poll clerks, scrutineers, police constables and electors while there for the purpose of recording their votes. The distribution of cards or tickets is not permitted in a booth.