Provisions as to Voting by Proxy.

HC Deb 01 February 1918 vol 101 cc1987-91

6. An elector shall not appoint more than one person as proxy to vote on his behalf.

9. The Ballot Act, 1872, and any other Act regulating the holding of Parliamentary elections, including any provisions imposing penalties in connection with voting at those elections, shall apply to persons voting as proxies in pursuance of this Act as they apply to voters, however described in those Acts, with such modifications as may be made by Regulations under this Act for the purpose of adapting the provisions of those Acts to voting by proxy; and any provisions of those Acts imposing penalties for offences in connection with ballot papers or the official mark on a ballot paper may be applied by those Regulations to proxy papers and any official mark on a proxy paper.

10. If any person—

1. (a) to whom or on whose behalf a proxy paper for any constituency has been issued under this Act, himself votes or attempts to vote at any Parliamentary election in that constituency otherwise than by means of the proxy paper, while the proxy paper is in force; or
1988
2. (b) votes or attempts to vote as proxy on behalf of more than two absent voters at an election in any constituency unless that person is voting as the husband or wife or the parent, brother, or sister of the absent voter; or
3. (c) votes or attempts to vote at any election under the authority of a proxy paper when he knows or has reasonable grounds for supposing that the proxy paper has been cancelled, or that the elector to whom or on whose behalf the proxy paper has been issued is dead or no longer entitled to vote at that election;

that person shall be guilty of a corrupt practice other than personation within the meaning of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, and the expression "corrupt practice" shall be construed accordingly: Provided that the Court before whom a person is convicted under this Section may, if they think it just in the special circumstances of the case, mitigate or entirely remit any incapacity imposed by Section six of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883.

11. A ballot paper shall not be delivered to a person who claims to vote as proxy for the purpose of so voting unless he produces the proxy paper to the presiding officer at the polling station, and such questions may be asked of any person at a Parliamentary election who claims to vote as proxy for any elector (in addition to those already authorised to be asked) as may be prescribed by regulations made under this Act.

14. A notice cancelling a proxy paper shall not take effect as respects any election unless it is received by the registration officer on or before the day of election.

Lords Amendment:

At the end of paragraph 6, insert the words "in the same constituency."

Lords Amendment read a second time.

Mr. SAMUEL

I beg to move, as an Amendment to the Lords Amendment, to add the words "and in any case not more than two persons."

When this matter was discussed previously, it was pointed out that if an unlimited right was given to appoint a number of proxies, assuming an elector was entitled to vote by proxy, at a number of different places, there would be no effective means of enforcing the Act that persons could not vote more than twice in any General Election, and the object of my Amendment to the Lords proposed Amendment is to make that provision effective. An officer might be at Mesopotamia and be registered here in five or six different places. Under the law as it now stands, his proxy could vote five or six times. But this Bill limits the voting to not more than twice in any circumstances. As the Bill was sent to the Lords the elector was only entitled to appoint one person as his proxy, who would only be in a position to vote twice—as would be the case if the elector himself voted. The House of Lords expressed the view that there was inconvenience in a proxy having to go to perhaps a distant place, and they saw no reason why there should not be different proxies in 'different divisions, but if that was so, the result of that would be that there would be no possible means of preventing each of these proxies exercising the vote or from being able to vote five or six times. I therefore propose an Amendment to insert the words which I have already stated. Under the Bill the elector's right was not to appoint more than one person as his proxy in the same constituency, and my Amendment is that there should be not more than two persons. That would avoid inconvenience, and would not invite the danger which a number of proxies would cause.

Sir W. DICKINSON

I do not see why the Government should not disagree with the Lords Amendment without any further discussion taking place. The Home Secretary accepted this, and then it was moved, I believe, on behalf of the Government in the Lords. My feeling is that you are trying to make matters too convenient for people. Men in this country who vote twice have to undergo the inconvenience of going to a distant constituency to vote. A man living in London might have to go to Edinburgh, and I do not see why a man should be entitled to appoint more than one proxy or why that proxy should not stand in the same position as the voter himself would hold at the election. I think you should disagree with the Lords Amend- ment, which is open to the objection that four or five proxies might be appointed, and nobody would ever discover it. On the whole, I think it would have been wise if the Home Secretary had disagreed with the Lords Amendment.

Mr. SAMUEL

If the Government do that I will withdraw my Amendment.

Sir G. CAVE

The right hon. Gentleman has pointed out that if the course suggested were adopted of appointing a number of proxies it would be very difficult to be sure that the law was not broken by a person voting in more than two place. That is a very strong point In favour of the Amendment, which I accept.

Amendment to the Lords Amendment agreed to.

Lords Amendment, as amended, agreed to.

Lords Amendments:

In paragraph 9, leave out the words "made by regulations under this Act," and insert instead thereof the word "prescribed."—Agreed to.

In paragraph 10, leave out the words "to whom or on whose behalf a proxy paper for any constituency has been issued," and insert instead thereof the words "who is for the time being entitled to vote by proxy in a constituency."—Agreed to.

Leave out the words "a corrupt practice other than personation," and insert instead thereof the words "illegal practice," and leave out the word "six'' ["Section six"], and insert instead there of the word "ten."—Agreed to.

In paragraph 11, leave out the words "by Regulations made under this Act."—Agreed to.

In paragraph 14, leave out the words "on or"—Agreed to.

Leave out the word "election," and insert instead thereof the word "nomination."—Agreed to.

At the end, insert as a new paragraph,

"15. In the application of this Schedule to Scotland the expression 'the registration officer of the constituency in which the elector is registered' means 'the registration officer of the registration area in which the elector is registered.' "—Agreed to.