A&P Show a factor in queues on day of election

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The Electoral Commission says East Coast polling booths were busy on Saturday because election day coincided with the Poverty Bay A&P Show.

“It was busy on election day and there were queues at some voting places, and we thank voters for their patience on the day,” said a spokesperson.

The Herald was told that people were waiting 30 or 40 minutes to vote at Gisborne Hospital and at Wainui and that some voters at Gisborne Boys’ High School had been to two or three other booths previously and moved on to the school because of lengthy waiting times.

Another factor in making election day booths busy would have been the 600,000 vote decline in advance voting from three years before.

There were 1,376,366 advance votes in the 2020 general election compared to 1,976,996 such votes in 2023.

On social media there were references to some polling booths running out of papaers for special votes .

But the Electoral Commission spokesperson said staff had no knowledge of booths running out of special voting papers on election day.

“Many people travelled to the Show from other regions and cast a special vote because they were outside their electorate,” said the spokesperson.

“Special vote take a bit longer to issue.”

In the East Coast electorate, 26 advance voting places were open before election day. Four mobile teams and 71 voting places wwere open on election day.

Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne said  2300 voting places were open on election day across the country.

“In every electorate, there are voting places that are open during advance voting but not on election day.

“In total, there were 265 voting places only open during advance voting this election, compared with 230 in 2020 and 305 in 2017.”

The reason more locations were open in 2020 was to combat long queues during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“There are changes to voting place locations in urban and rural regions every election determined by factors including the availability of locations, staffing levels, and local demand,”  Mr Le Quesne said.

One political party member told the Herald local body bylaws which required the removal of campaign hoardings the day before election day were pointless and outdated.

This was the third general election where advance voting was possible for two weeks until the day before election day at a time when the hoardings were visible to all voters, she said.