COMPULSORY ENROLMENT.
JUST why every adult in New Zealand should be compelled to enrol ir. his or her electorate has never been satisfactorily explained. To the lay mind it seems to be a foregone conclusion that a person who is too indolent, or so lacking in civic interest as to fail to exercise the franchise, is not a fit person to vote, and it is meet that others should govern such an one. And to make the thing logical the elector should be compelled to vote, and be penalised if his or her vote is invalid. We must look below the surface for the reason of this queer legislation. Fairly patently, it is the work of the Electoral Department. Previously, canvassers were employed to make house-to-house visits to enrol electors, but these were only “ casual hands,” and did not permanently swell the ranks of permanent officialsin the Electoral Department. All departments like to swell their importance—and their expenditure by increasing staffs and prerogatives, and the public pays the piper: If the Government is sincere in its protestations it might well revert to the go-as-you-please days. None, outside the Electoral Department, would weep over the abolition of the present law.
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Bibliographic details
Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 242, 21 June 1928, Page 4
Word Count
199COMPULSORY ENROLMENT. Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 242, 21 June 1928, Page 4
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