30 September 2016

The snail ate my mail

There are just seven days left to vote in the local elections. They say a week is a long time in politics but what is weaker are the excuses Aucklanders give for why they haven’t yet voted.

The most original comes from out west where one eligible voter told us that a “snail ate my mail and had taken up permanent residence on my voting documents”. That’s not a problem. If you too have uninvited guests or inclement weather wreaking damage to your documents call the snail busters hotline on 0800 922 822. The Electoral Office will answer and post you out a special vote – you just have to move at pace to get to it from your letterbox before the snail!

Then there’s the challenge of the left over right. “I’m left handed and the tick box is on the wrong side,” a mono dextrous elector told the council which prompted an enthusiastic ambidextrous voter to ask if they could tick twice with a vote for the left and one for the right.

Electing the leaders of Auckland is the people’s choice but some of our potential electors have taken that a bit too literally. Texting in their choice for favourite in “Real Housewives of Auckland” is not enough.

Another punter said they are holding on to their papers “to see who would win; because who wants to vote for a loser?” and then there was the man who said he had missed the bus – the Love Bus that is – Auckland Council’s mobile activation motor handing out information to voters to encourage them to shape the future of our region, cast their vote and have their say.

There are a lot of people who have a lot to say. Some of it just too rude to publish. We’re hearing comments from people who say they won’t be voting because they may reside in Auckland but remain “a dyed in the wool, one eyed Cantabrian” to the resolute “because I don’t”, the honest “I can’t be bothered” and the self-deprecating “I’m all talk and no action”.

Fortunately there are action oriented Aucklanders who have made good on their best intentions to vote and at 2pm yesterday almost 17 per cent of Auckland’s more than one million voters had returned their ballots. That’s a 2.1 per cent pickup in the number of returned documents from the same period in 2013 and there’s really no excuse for not voting and influencing the shape of the future of the city and region.

You can vote right up to midday on Saturday 8 October and if you’re not on the electoral roll you can still vote if you enrol by 4pm Friday 7 October and register for a special vote. Call the Electoral Office on 0800 922 822 for more information.

And if you say you can’t or won’t vote because you don’t know the candidates nor how or where to vote, simply go to the council’s showyourlove.co.nz website for information at your fingertips. Tap in your address and let the website do the work for you.

The progress result will be available after 2pm with the official result confirmed on Thursday 13 October.

ENDS

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