§ Mr. Chorltonasked the Home Secretary whether he proposes in his forthcoming legislation on Electoral Reform to substitute a scheme of voting by post and/or proxy in lieu of the present position of voting at specified polling stations under the Ballot Act of 1872; whether the present privilege of voting by post or proxy, enjoyed by absentee voters, may be extended to invalid and blind persons, or whether he proposes to abandon this method of voting except in the case of the Armed Forces of the Crown and men in the merchant services, including pilots and fishermen?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonThe object of the proposed legislation is to deal with those matters of electoral machinery which were dealt with in the report of the Departmental Committee. The proposals of the Committee do not involve substantive changes in the provisions relating to absent voters, but are designed to enable effective use to be made of the existing provisions in present circumstances.