GENERAL ELECTION A HEAVY POLL OF WOMEN VOTERS

COALITION PROSPECTS

The General Election has provided the justification – if justification were needed – of the policy of admitting women to the franchise. Their eagerness to fulfil the new duty of taking a full share of responsibility in a decision so vital to the country was the outstanding feature of polling-day. There were many cases in which women were first at the polling-booths at seven o’clock in the morning; their more fortunately placed sisters went in continuous succession to the polls later in the day: and in some instances the percentage of female electors exercising the franchise was so high that in all probability it exceeded that of the men. Election agents and workers have given expression to dismal forebodings during the last three weeks regarding the apathy of the women, and prophecies that only a small proportion of them would vote have been widely accepted. Saturday’s experience would appear to prove that disinclination to attend party meetings and join in political disputations does not necessarily denote lack of interest; that close attention to the work of the home or the factory is not incompatible with a keen appreciation of national problems; and that there has come into existence a new voting force which will render the calculations of party managers more precarious. Naturally, the day provided many interesting and amusing incidents. There are many instances in which wives insisted upon going into the same compartment as their husbands in order to be sure that they marked their papers correctly. It is certain that the Ballot Act has never been so flagrantly and innocently violated. “Do I vote here for Mr ____?” appears to have been a common inquiry, and polling clerks were frequently invited to examine completed papers to see that they were in order. But in the vast majority of cases it was noted that the women voters were at least as well instructed as the menfolk, and they certainly refuted the argument that they “did not want the vote, and would never use it”.

NO FAVOURS

Apart from the activity of the women, the election presented few features of interest, though in two negative respects it was noteworthy. There appeared to be an entire absence of party favours, and there were very few motor-cars. Of the lively scenes which usually characterise election contests there was an entire absence – save, as might be expected, in Ireland. In certain districts, such as in Gorbels (Glasgow), where Mr Barnes was fighting Bolshevism, there were signs of an unusually keen fight, but the supporters of the Labour member of the War Cabinet were confident at the end of the day that he had maintained his seat. Speaking of the country generally, the indications are that the counting of votes on Dec 28 will disclose a Coalition triumph.

THE NEW VOTERS

SOME POLLING EPISODES

A Richmond girl, aged 12, wanted to vote for her mother.

At Hitchin an old lady collapsed and died on reaching home after recording her vote.

At one of the Tulse-hill polling stations a woman was only beaten by a special constable, who registered his vote on the stroke of seven o’clock.

At the London County Council School polling station in Southampton-street, Camberwell, a woman asked where she drew the money, and was astonished to hear that she was not paid.

A service of High Mass was held at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday morning, at the special request of the Catholic Women’s Suffrage Society, who invoked Divine guidance for men and women electors.

One old lady in her excitement filled up a candidate’s election card, and before the officer in charge could stop her she had dropped it into the ballot-box. She was then shown how to vote properly, but as she left the room she confided joyously to the policeman on duty that she had voted twice.

At Brighton, presiding officers had great difficulty in preventing ladies from disclosing who they voted for, and it is feared many voting papers were spoilt by inattention to the directions of the clerks. It was particularly noticed that the majority of women folded the papers outwardly, so that the manner of the marking could be soon as they deposited them in the ballot-boxes.

Mrs Granny Lambert, of Gloster-road, Edmonton, who is 105 years of age, stated she had never heard of Mr Lloyd George, and had no idea who he was. She was too tired to walk to the polling-booth and vote. Asked for whom she would vote if she could be prevailed upon to go to the poll, the old lady remarked, “I would vote for the man who would have that beast of a Kaiser shot.”