• Howick and Pakuranga Times

Voting not so secret

I RECENTLY enquired of the local electoral office why it is that our ballot papers are identified by a bar code.

The response was this is to record the voter’s name and how that voter voted. This information is kept in two databases ostensibly to preserve secrecy.

However, electoral staff can have, under specified circumstances, access to both databases. The main purpose apparently is to prevent double voting.

In other words, the way I vote is not secret. Any authorised government official can find out how I voted and pass on that information.

The local electorate official then quoted an instance where the police required this information during the triennial local body election of 2010, when there was an apparent case of fraudulent voting in Papatoetoe.

I have no doubt the official who replied is an honest person who would not abuse the system or dishonestly use the information on how I vote.

However, that cannot be said of everybody in an official capacity. No society is without corrupt officials and New Zealand is most unlikely to be so perfect as to be the exception.

The present system is vulnerable to corrupt practice and the individual voter is therefore insecure.  

Martin Ough Dealy, Shelly Park

Unnecessary expenditure

THE residents of Channing Crescent, Howick, have been notified that contractors working for Auckland Transport are undertaking resurfacing works.

The existing surface of Channing Crescent is smooth. No potholes, no scuffing on the outlets at either end. And it is quiet.

The letter promises to sweep the road within three days of resurfacing, so they’re obviously going to put down the hated coarse chip.

Why is a perfect piece of road surface being tarred and chipped in a quiet residential crescent?  Children play in the street during the winter when the parks are saturated. A fall off their bicycle onto coarse chip will cause injury.

In the summer, the heat melts the tar, which is brought into the house.

The chip is never swept properly. A quick look at the junction of Gosford Drive and Channing Crescent illustrates the inadequacy of their efforts when part of Gosford Drive was chipped many months ago.

During summer, tar melts and the chips are pushed aside leaving bare tar where vehicles turn the corner.

The coarse chip is noisy, but not only that, it throws up from vehicle wheels onto lawns and driveways. It has tar stuck to it, so it adheres to shoes and car tyres and is soon right inside dwellings.

David Sall, Howick