New Zealand Voting Experience

I just got back from my first voting-in-person experience in New Zealand. I voted by mail in the last local election, which you can read about here, and I have a comprehensive overview of what is involved in the General Election here. And just to reiterate: you do not need to be a citizen to vote in New Zealand. As long as you are here on a visa that doesn’t require you to leave the country by a certain date, you can most likely register to vote.

So here’s the deal: voting in New Zealand was easy. And it was delightfully low-tech. I took my EasyVote card - which was mailed to me a few weeks ago - into a local polling place where some cheery election workers checked to make sure I was at the right place, then asked me to scan the Covid Tracer App QR code at the door. I walked inside the building where I met another election worker who encouraged me to use hand sanitizer before taking a pen, if needed. I brought my own pen, but my husband grabbed one out of the box.

There were two options to choose from once inside the building. We could choose to go up to the table with regular ballots or the table with special ballots. Since we were already registered to vote and were at a voting place in our district, we went to the regular ballot table. There, another worker (shout out to Diane!) pulled out two huge pads with pre-printed ballots. The orange ballot was for our party and candidate votes and the purple ballot was for our referendum votes. She recorded my identifying voter information on a pad of paper, handed me the two sheets of folded paper, kept my EastyVote card to dispose of, and sent me on my merry way to use a cardboard voting booth.

The ballots have a list of choices and a bubble next to each possible selection. I immediately thought of the scantron tests I took in school (are those still around?) and nearly started filling in bubbles. For a Kiwi ballot, however, there is a very clear example of a check mark in the bubble to indicate your selection. After making my choices, I refolded my ballots and deposited the referendum paper in the appropriate purple box and the election ballot in the orange box near the exit.

The whole experience was quick and easy. It was also an interesting exercise to figure out how to strategically vote since I have two votes, one for a local candidate and one for a party. The MMP system of governance has made me contemplate all of the different repercussions of my choices. Do I agree with the Labour government’s policies? Do I like that they’re in an alliance with New Zealand First and does that alliance put important checks on Labour’s policies? Do I think bringing in other parties and encouraging more consortiums is a good thing, or has Labour done such an outstanding job that they deserve free reign for the next three years to get us through coronavirus? It is a much more engaging, much less tribal process than in the US when you’re either for one side or the other and a minor party vote is seen as a throw-away vote. I’m excited to see the results on Saturday!