THE BALLOT ACT—ILLITERATE VOTERS. (Hansard, 19 February 1892)

§ (7.20.) MR. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)

I rise to call attention to the infringement of the object of the Ballot Act for the protection of the voter from intimidation, practised by means of certain clauses in that Act permitting the illiterate to vote; and 864 I should have desired to move that, in the opinion of this House, in the interests of true freedom of election, the clauses in the Ballot Act which permit the illiterate to vote should be abolished. It appears to me that the Ballot Act tends to defeat its own object, for some of its clauses have lent themselves to the perpetration of intimidation of the worst description. What are the particular provisions which I maintain require amendment? They are contained in 35 & 36 Vict. (Parliamentary and Municipal Elections Act, C. 33, Section 26), which permits thatߞ Any voter who makes a declaration, as hereinafter mentioned, that he is unable to read, shall, in the presence of the agents of the candidates, cause the vote of such voter to be marked on a ballot paper in manner directed by such voter," &c. I find that in Italy, where they have universal suffrage, in America, where the electoral franchise can be obtained by all males after a short residence, no such system prevails which permits, or allows who those are so uneducated as to be unable to fill up a ballot paper, to exercise the franchise. My objection to this section is not based solely on the undesirability of giving to the uneducated electoral power; but that, under cover of this permission, intimidation can be and is practised—worse intimidation than, I believe, ever was practised under the old system of open voting to all, and of a more flagrant character than in elections in any other civilised State in the world. Those are the provisions with respect to illiterate voting, and in theory there may be little that is objectionable in them. But what have they been in practice? What was the object and intention of the alteration of the system of open voting in this country? Why was the sweeping and radical change from open voting to voting by ballot made? The Attorney General for Ireland, Mr. Dowse, who was a Member of the Government of the right hon. Member for Midlothian at the time, said— That it would secure the elector from landlord coercion on the one hand, and from intimidation on the other. It is not material now to discuss whether there was any necessity for the Act from the point of view of "landlord coercion," except to say that there is no such allegation made now. But 865 what is the state of the case with respect to the prevention of intimidation? Why is it that intimidation is still largely practised, and how? I maintain that it is practised through these illiterate provisions. The object which the Government had in view when these provisions were added to the Ballot Bill was the prevention of disfranchisement by reason of illiteracy. This was unmistakably set forth by the late Mr. W. E. Forster, who said— All the Government wished to determine by this Amendment was that persons who could not read should not be disfranchised. But there is no secrecy in the existing law, and the present system allows persons who are not illiterate to pretend that they are illiterate, for the purpose of intimidation. I find, with regard to the election of 1886, in Ireland, the agent of the Roman Catholic candidate For one division of the Midland Counties states that if a voter were doubtful he told him to say he was illiterate; and I have evidence of such practices elsewhere, and of a more recent date. The Daily News of December last refers to intimidation of a totally different class. I would point out that at this election at Waterford a totally different condition of affairs existed. We are aware that on that occasion the hon. Member for Waterford was a supporter of the policy of the late Mr. Parnell. On the 24th December, 1891, the Daily News, writing on the subject, saysߞ At noon more than half the expected total had been polled, and at that time large crowds had collected round the majority of the polling booths, many voters being intimidated by the displays of Party feeling. The crowding round the stations of demonstrative crowds had great effect upon the illiterate voters, the result being that in this class Mr. Redmond obtained a large majority. I speak on this question as one of broad public policy, for, as far as London is concerned, the right has been legitimately exercised in a bonâ fide manner by bonâ fide illiterates. In my own constituency at the last General Election I believe only four persons claimed to vote as illiterates. The number who voted in this class in England and Scotland was infinitesimally small. The Education Act was passed 20 years ago, and, therefore, every person under 30 ought to be able to read and write 866 sufficiently to record his vote. The State—that is, the taxpayers—pays nearly the whole cost of education, and, therefore, it has a right to say whether the right of , voting should be with those who are so absolutely ignorant that they cannot put a cross against their name. I think the right of illiterates to vote is bad, because it gives power to those who are least able to resist intimidation. Although the case is a very small one as regards England, it is very strong as regards Ireland. Let me give the figures at Donegal election in 1886. Out of 18,000 voters 7,903 claimed that they were unable to read or write, and voted before the returning officer in the presence of the personation agent. In Fermanagh, out of 11,863 voters there were 2,968 illiterates. In Monaghan, out of 12,177 voters there were 3,220; and in Tyrone, out of 26,787 there were 6,957. These figures amount to this, that at the last Election one out of every 74 in Scotland, one out of every 64 in England, and one out of every five in Ireland claimed to vote as illiterate. I admit that at present the people of Ireland are not so well educated as those of England, but that is not the fault of the present Government. In Ulster and Belfast the education is fairly good, equal to that in many parts of England; but I fear the state of things is due to other circumstances. In no part of England is there any great proportion of illiterates, except in Dudley, where there were 1,293. In Marylebone there were only two, and in South Paddington only one. It is a matter of common notoriety that many elections in the past were won by the intimidation of the League, sustained, in some instances, by the terrors of the Church. The wretched voters in many constituencies found themselves forced to obey the agents of the Home Rule Party. They were driven like sheep to the poll, while within the booth itself were local League officials to see that they voted according to orders. This was a clear violation of the secrecy of the Ballot, but it is a system which has grown under the Illiterate Voters' Clause of the Act, specially framed to prevent coercion. Though there is no better form of Government than that which derives its power from a real representative 867 system, there is none worse than that which permits electors to be driven like sheep to the poll to give their votes in fear of spiritual and bodily danger. I have no wish to entirely disfranchise these voters; there are many ways in which the most illiterate can give his vote with the utmost secrecy, and these will probably be discussed when the Bill of my hon. Friend comes to be considered. As long as you can give the vote secretly I have no objection to it; but under the present system, when the vote is practically given openly before the personation agent it tends to a large amount of danger to the voter, and the chance of his being intimidated. I think in the public interest we should have all the electors equally free to go to the poll. We hear a great deal from our opponents about one man one vote, but I do not think we should consider that under the existing state of affairs. I find that in Wandsworth 15,000 voters have one Representative, while in Derry, 5,000, many of whom are illiterate, have three Representatives. I hope that at some future time the First Lord of the Treasury may take up the question, not only as regards Local Government in Ireland, but as it affects political representation in that country. I would remind the right hon. Gentleman that this is not a political question. I know for a fact that there are several leading Members of the opposite Party who thoroughly agree that there are anomalies in the Ballot Act; and I would also point out that at the meeting of the Conservative Party at Birmingham, where I had the honour of bringing forward the proposal that the illiterate vote should be abolished, it met with unanimous approval, on the grounds that by it great injury was done to the freedom of election of Members of Parliament.