Williams judges frontrunning drive to perfection

CANTERBURY horseman Tim Williams showed punters at Forbury Park last night why he is one of the country’s most inform reinsmen with a daring frontrunning drive to win with Archman.

Williams set up an exciting spectacle when he was happy to let the Geoff and Jude Knighttrained pacer stride along up to six lengths in front of the field during the middle stages of the final race.

What seemed an audacious plan at the 1000m looked like perfect placement when the rest of the field could not reel Archman in at the finish.

The tactics surprised the Knights, but there were no complaints.

‘‘We weren’t expecting things to work out like that,’’ Geoff Knight said.

Williams is second in the national drivers premiership behind Ricky May who won with the John Haytrained Motu Hot Topic.

Archman had returned a stronger horse after spelling at the end of a solid 3yrold campaign, Knight said.

‘‘He is a really nice horse and he is going to go a bit further.’’

The Knights are considering starting the horse in the South Of The Waitaki race on Show Day at Addington.

Archman’s owner, Judy Dillon, is not the only Northern Southlander who might need to book tickets for the cup carnival.

Oamaru trotter Springbank Lachie booked his trip there thanks to a strong frontrunning win for trainer Phil Williamson and junior driver Charlotte Purvis.

It brought relief for Springbank Lachie’s owners, Alistair and Denise Smith. The gelding last won as a 2yrold at Addington in April last year.

Williamson said Springbank Lachie suffered a series of setbacks last season when he was up against the country’s best trotters.

A Champion Western Australian pacer Chicago Bull has his first race in New Zealand since the 2015 Harness Jewels at Alexandra Park tonight.

The Gary Hall sentrained gelding, bred and sold by the Price family of Winton, will have a crucial hitout in preparation for the November 13 New Zea land Cup in a 2200m handicap.

‘‘I don’t really like the idea of a 20m back mark over the 2200m,’’ his driver, Gary Hall jun, said.

‘‘It could make he race really tricky and it is also his first standing start, so while I’d be surprised if he blew it, he could settle last.

‘‘That means we could be chasing for a while in his first start righthanded so there are a few things against us.’’ — additional reporting

WELLINGTON: Justice Minister Andrew Little is instructing his officials to look into changing voting rules so people are able to enrol and vote on election day.

The deadline for enrolling to vote is the Friday night before election day.

But Mr Little said he had asked justice officials to look into those rules ‘‘with a view to that law change being made in time for 2020’’.

Earlier yesterday, speaking to MPs at the justice select committee, during the review of the 2017 election, Labour Party president Nigel Haworth and the Electoral Commission urged the Government to change the rules.

The commission’s chief electoral officer, Alicia Wright, ‘‘strongly recommended’’ the Government should change the rules.

She said 18,000 people cast special votes on election day last year and their votes were not counted because they were not enrolled.

Mr Haworth also called on the Government to change the law.

Data from the Electoral Commission showed almost half of all votes in last year’s general election were cast early.

‘‘It seems ridiculous now that we have about 50% of people voting in the early voting period, but people can’t enrol and vote on the day of the election,’’ Mr Haworth said.

‘‘There is no real reason not to allow enrolment and voting on the same day.’’ The Electoral Commission chairman Sir Hugh Williams agreed. ‘‘When all the voting was on election day, you could understand [the current rules], but now with advance voting stretching back a couple of weeks before the election, it seems anomalous that that is still the position.’’

Sir Hugh said he wanted the law to be changed so people could enrol on election day by 2023.

But Mr Little said he was aiming for the 2020 election.

‘‘I have told the select committee that I have asked justice officials to have a look at that specifically.’’

But he worries that the select committee inquiry could go on too long, which could mean the rules would not be changed in time for 2020.

‘‘If it looks like that’s the case, then subject to the agreement with the rest of Government, I would anticipate a law change by 2020.’’

The Electoral Commission also asked the Government to consider changing the rules around what happens when someone votes early but dies before election day.

At the moment, such a vote does not count.

Last year, 2300 people were removed from the electoral roll because they died during the advance voting period, the Electoral Commission said.

Sir Hugh said the Government had to change the electoral law for those votes to count.

But Mr Little said there was no room for a law change in this area.

‘‘Votes cast for an election, on a designated election day, should be people who are alive, in my view.’’ —