Hard News: Prospects
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I voted at Oratia Primary School, which was looking extra pretty this morning with its views of the Waitakeres. Pleasantly ticking over but not busy - the whole thing took me about two minutes. Yay. I said to the official person ticking off my name that he must be incredibly accurate with a ruler (seriously, those name lists are in a TINY font!); he laughed and said he's an expert.
I'm feeling sanguine about the results for the moment. I just had a divine lunch at Mexican Specialties in Ellerslie, and it's my grandfather's 90th birthday today. New Zealand feels nice. :)
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Voted!
It was steady but not crowded at our polling place - mind you, with only three booths, it was pretty damn small, so it wouldn't have stood many more people. I didn't spot anyone wearing party rosettes, but I wasn't looking. I was encouraged by the number of parents with small kids and young people who were there, although I reckon that's a function of the area we're in more than anything. Still good to see.
Lucy, are you part of Brownlee country (aka Illam) perchance? I've voted in three general elections, and this is the first time I know my electorate vote won't be won by the guy I voted for. I spent half my life in Hodgson country (aka Dunedin North), so to move from one strangehold to another is quite striking.
Anyway, this is the second time I've voted Greens in party vote (will I regret that? I'm not sure...) after voting Labour in '05. No real voting stories to hand except to say damn it's easy, isn't it- the coverage of US elections seemed to suggest that in some areas it was akin to an endurance sport just being able to get to your booth and pull the level/tick the box/touch the screen.
And here's another thing- it never fails to baffle me how byzantine the arrangements are for just voting over there. Surely for a national election it would make sense to y'know, have the same process everywhere in the country.
Here's it's just ticking a piece of paper twice. Easy, isn't it? Gorgeous weather outside, too, which hopefully means people will bother to turnout.
Now it's a matter of waiting a few hours. If I'm going to watch any television election coverage, I think I'll need to start drinking first. The sheer inanity that's going to be spouted on the night (by both the politicians and the "host") will drive me to it either way.
I do wonder whether we'll see John Campbell in hologram form though. That would be awesome.
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Btw- when I refer to "inanity", I am of course, excusing the wonderful Media 7 team from that accusation. Their coverage, of course, will be thoughtful, considered and enlightening.
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I voted at Kowhai Intermediate School in Kingsland before 10am. We were there for swimming so great to be able to vote as well saved a bit of Carbon.
The voting process appeared to be well organised. Found out later that the PM had also voted there as it is her local school and we are in the Mt Albert electorate. We must have missed her by a few minutes as we got there at 9.
I just did a quick look up of 1996 election results when Labour won 28.2% of the vote but the Alliance and NZ First both did remarkably well that election. First election under MMP
My thoughts are that this election might be closer to those 1996 scenarios than anything else.
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Couldn't convince either kid to come and see the process - they'll both be eligible next time - it's just not cool I guess - Kyle: keep taking them when they're young.
To my surprise I recognised the Labour party scrutineer - and old friend of the family (and someone I guess I'd have always assumed to be a Nat supporter)
In and out in 2 minutes - I really should volunteer next time - I really like that we still have paper ballots and that they're counted by hand (and can be recounted)
Looking at the form of the ballot I did wonder if putting all the larger parties that also had electorate candidates at the top was not a little unfair on the little parties at the bottom
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I have always wondered why "treating" is still illegal
What the difference with the things (mostly our own money back)that the parties offer us before an electionAnyway I have voted, went past a couple of polling places to the country school that I went to and have mostly voted at
My wife is on duty there so we have a chat after probably cancelling each others voting effort -
Well, Franz was grey & overcast, and there was not any kind of a queue...met a couple of neighbours coming out, and we chatted about- fish. No scrutineers in sight.Another bloke voted alongside me, but there were two officers, both cheery and pleasant. Bit busy earlier on, said one-
and -for the first time ever since I've voted on the Coast - she handed me a single sheet of paper! And there it was, a dear little Tai Toka ballot box! After 38 years, no sealed envelope rigmarole - and I have no idea why it was that way Lucy. The electorate covers a huge area, and yep, Maori are not a huge percentage of the population here, but it was great to stick a couple of ticks on the ballot paper, and go shopping. V. modestly - couple of bottles of NZ champane; a red & a green sweet pepper to symbolise my ticks & go with the Puhoi camembert I've been nurturing in the cheese-hutch for the past 5 days; crackers & dippers, and some sauv. blanc to contribute to the joy & frivolity I trust will reign in certain areas of the settlement tonight...
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Voted at the Michael Fowler Centre during lunch break. Surprisingly un-crowded and quick, the officials knew their stuff.
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So the photo the Herald is showing of a coffee tent next to the voting sign is also dodgy?
But. Paragraph 5 of section 217 says
Notwithstanding anything in this section, the provision of a light supper after any election meeting shall be deemed not to constitute the offence of treating.
It seems quite a strange piece of legislation and quite amusing.
It reminds me of an old joke.
Guy walks into a bar and orders a drink.
"Sorry Sir. I can't serve you because we're not open officially for another ten minutes"
"Oh I'll just wait then" says the punter
"Fine" says the barman
"would Sir like a drink while you're waiting ?" -
Dodgy.
Well it was offered to my daughter, not to me.
And they had it hidden behind something, so I suspect it was there to offer to kids if their parents agreed.
Man, sounds like Islander's is the place to watch the results come in tonight, I'll be roasting lamb for my girlfriend and I with a plan to eat just before 7pm.
And, having just checked the mail. Act's personally addressed letter and A3 brochure arrived in today's post, a couple of hours after I voted.
Can someone get a message to Rodders? "Your material arrived late and I voted green already. If you can get my ballot paper back from the box, I'll change my tick to yours."
(Act, clearly not organised enough to front up a Minister)
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I'm somewhat gutted, because a show that I'm involved with opens tonight (and the date was set last year, so I blame Helen! :P) so I can't watch the early returns. Won't get home before 11, at best, so it'll be halfway over before I even get started.
I had that one year (might have been '96 or '99 actually) and my fellow tech insisted on taping the entire show on One, resisting any results until she got home (took us with her) and then watched it. All. I had to loan her my VCR so she could tape the stuff that was happening live while she and my wife were watching the rest. (Her partner and I had the laptop out and were getting the live stuff online so we were banished to the other room)
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voted at the michael fowler centre too.
i was *amazed* at the amount of make-up on several young ladies wearing blue rosettes.
and that the guy in the green rosette was wearing an old, tiny bit ratty sweatshirt.
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I vote we all go to Islander's place, probably some of those small fish that she is famous for availabe as well
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There was a large number of democratic units and their kidlets present at my local polling booth - Devonport Presbyterian Church Hall. I would like to say that the large number of children present was due to their parent's excellent commitment to civics, but instead I suspect it had more to do with the pony rides and face painting across the street at the St Leos' School Fair (a chocolate fish to anyone who can explain why a privately funded Catholic School in an high socio-economic area needs to hold a fund raiser).
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Che - was that during the morning? I didn't come across any rosettes at all.
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Every three years I'm amazed that I can get away with voting without ID. Especially as I live in an apartment block with envelopes sticking out of mail boxes, with nice EasyVote cards inside.
Sorry, can't stay to chat, more polling booths to visit (although using the one for Ms Kobayashi could be hard to pull off ...)
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@deep yup, pretty much shortly after it opened.
scrutineers galore.
seriously. i wanted to ask the poor dears if they've been sold a trowel with all that crap...
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Voted about 2pm at Pt Chevalier primary school. Very smooth, no waiting.
One scrutineer with rosette (National) sitting happily observing. All very pleasant, really.
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I do wonder whether we'll see John Campbell in hologram form though. That would be awesome.
Holograms on TV.
Totally pointless or just a con and a gimmick?
I would imagine the equipment to produce a half decent hologram would bear a hefty price tag and who watching TV would be able to tell a real hologram from a CGI effect? It is, either, a simple TV trick or there are some TV producers out there with poo for brains. -
Every three years I'm amazed that I can get away with voting without ID. Especially as I live in an apartment block with envelopes sticking out of mail boxes, with nice EasyVote cards inside.
You're not the only one. Three years back, I was scrutineering and an Asian chap was quite agitated because he felt (and quite correctly) that for all they knew he could be anyone. Serious question: How many people don't have some form of photo ID, even if we're only talking about a driver's license or valid passport?
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For reasons. It surprised me too.
Thanks Deborah, great post.
We voted earlier this afternoon at Kelburn Primary - where there was a steady stream of voters. Afterwards we had ice cream down at the lagoon -- which should have cemented the occasion in the five-year old's mind. -
3410,
Holograms on TV.
Totally pointless or just a con and a gimmick?Can't it be both?
Edendale school, Sand., noon. Incredible weather. Rather busy, but still only 5 seconds' wait time.
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Craig:So far the problem doesn't seem to exist. If the line by line post election check showed multiple voting then the police get involved but it is rare in NZ. They go back to the real person and check what he voted. Then erase the other person who fraudulently voted in someone else's name. Occasionally they do catch out a multiple voter but until its a problem, costs are kept low. Remember that the little black sticker over your number, is removed after the election and each vote is checked against each name. Pity they wouldn't do something like that with the phoney phone-in polls.
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Can't it be both?
My bad. Of course, it could be all three.
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