THE SECRET BALLOT SIR,--The correspondence about the numbers on the
counterfoils on ballot papers raises the question whether this device serves any useful purpose. Once the count is over, the ballots may be inspected only on the order of the House of Commons or of a High Court Judge. This implies an election petition, as a result of which a scrutiny of the ballots is ordered. Apparently this has not occurred in England since 1911, and never in Northern Ireland since the establishment of the Parliament at Stormont.
The circumstances of the English case were peculiar. The Liberal candidate at Exeter was re- turned by a majority of four, but there was sus- picion that some Liberal voters were under age. On a scrutiny being held, some votes were dis- allowed, and the Conservative candidate was then found to have a majority of one. The disappointed Liberal candidate assaulted the Judge on the plat- form of Exeter station. Since that occasion no case has arisen in which a scrutiny has been ordered and the numbers used.
There would seem to be little point in retaining this system of checking how a person voted. Most other countries find it unnecessary; it has not been used here for over half a century; it gives rise, as the letters in the Spectator show, to some sus- picion, or at least uneasiness.
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