September 26, 2019
Ballot packs turn off for voters under the pump
Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere says the postal voting process is a turn off for many Māori and low income voters – and he wants a return to election day polling booths.
Voting packs went out at the end of last week, and the completed voting forms need to be in the hands of the returning officer by October 12.
Mr Tamihere suspects many of those packs will be in the bin by now.
"The only time a pack like that arrives in one of our houses is when it's a demand notice, a last notice for repo, a last notice for rent. That goes in the bin because how our people defend themselves when they are under the pump, they're like an ostritch, they put their head in the sand," he says.
Even if voters do fill in the forms, they then have to find a post box that hasn't been closed since the last election.
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