SIR,—May I inquire under what legislation was the secret ballot
abandoned in parliamentary elections?
When I voted last Thursday, I had to present myself at a table with a card, previously delivered by post, which gave my number on the electoral roll. One of the two officials at the table checked this against a copy of the roll and the other official gave me my voting slip which was torn from a printed book with counterfoils. Each slip had a serial number which corresponded with that on the counterfoil, and the slip was also marked with a perforation before I left the table with it.
Now I accept that all this arises from bureaucratic zeal to prevent plural voting and other abuses, but suggest, sir, that any machinery which enables a voter in what should be a secret ballot to be identi- fied, is a danger to liberty and should be abandoned forthwith.
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