October 16, 2023
Electoral Commission denies ballot shortage clam
The Electoral Commission’s senior Māori advisor is denying claims of widespread problems with Māori voting.
Hone Matthews says all he’s heard so far is hearsay, and if people have complaints they should forward them to the commission.
He says with 20,000 staff taken on for the elections it’s inevitable there would be some mistakes, but he denies claims the booths at Manurewa Marae and Hoani Waititi Marae ran out of voting forms.
“They were restocked every day. We had a mobile team that was gong out there. The collaboration between that community and our voting staff was excellent. There were queues on the day but as I said the collaboration was outstanding and I think they offered a really good service,” Mr Matthews says.
First time voters, voters coming back on the roll and those voting outside their electorate or Maori booth needed to cast special votes, which are now being returned to the electorates for counting, with the final result declared on November 3.