National/ACT/NZF Accused of Election Gerrymandering – Pressure on Electoral Commission

Changes to voting rules introduced by the coalition Government — including restrictions on special votes — are drawing criticism, with concerns raised about their impact on voter participation and pressure placed on the Electoral Commission ahead of the next election.

What the new voting restrictions mean for New Zealanders

Let’s be very clear, by gerrymandering the National, ACT and NZ First to ban over 400,000 special votes means they have already successfully stolen the election.

That’s what makes this announcement by the commission so insulting…

Focus on boosting enrolment after government’s new voter restrictions – Electoral Commission 

Le Quesne said the Commission was expecting to have increased numbers of special votes this election, despite changes banning prisoner voting, same-day enrolment votes, or voting if not enrolled at least 13 days before the election.

“It’s really, really hard to say, but that’s why we’re putting so much effort into enrolment and getting people to get enrolled and update their details well ahead of time,” Le Quesne said.

“We’re planning for a similar turnout rate, if not slightly higher, than the ’23 election. We have to plan for any eventuality.”

Why special votes are at the centre of the controversy

Special votes take about 10 times longer to count than standard votes.

Electoral Commission pushes back on Government claims

Le Quesne previously told a select committee the changes – passed in December – would not speed up the final election results, despite government claims that was the purpose of the legislation.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon then criticised the Commission as the “slowest folk on the planet”.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has maintained the changes will keep the counting period from extending further in future, but Le Quesne on Thursday said it was “too hard to say” whether the law changes made any impact on how fast the count would be.

“At this stage, we’re still planning for 20 days,” he said, the same as the 2023 election. “If we can do it earlier, we will.”

He indicated any faster count was more likely to be the result of additional resources.

RNZ

Government justification vs reality of vote counting

…the entire rationale by Goldsmith on gerrymandering the rules was to get the result quicker, but the Electoral Commission is telling Goldsmith that the delay will still be 20 days to count overseas votes.

This is terribly embarrassing for the Government because the argument used to rob people of voting would be a quicker result, but it will still be 20 days regardless.

Why critics say this impacts election fairness

Let’s be very clear – this is gerrymandering.

The vast majority of those 400,000+ votes cast go to the Left!

National, ACT and NZ First have specifically targeted a section of the electorate and shut it down to influence the final result!

So National, ACT and NZ First have stolen the election by disenfranchising over 400,000 voters pretending its about getting quick result when it will still take the same time.

You’ve been played, NZ.

If you are not incandescent with rage, You aren’t paying attention!

National, ACT and NZ First are stealing this election!