Photo error will cost me votes, says candidate

Neil Miller (left) and John Watson (right). Photo / Supplied

A local body election candidate says a mix-up in photographs in the official elections booklet will cost him votes and he will consider applying for a fresh ballot.

The electoral office is trying to compensate by running the correct picture, with an apology, in local press advertisements.

But Neil Miller, of Whangaparaoa, said yesterday he was not satisfied.

"I was shocked they could make such an elementary mistake and there was no checking process.

"I am standing for the Waitemata District Health Board and for the Hibiscus Coast Local Board.

"The picture used for the health board is not of me but of a candidate for the Auckland Council and the local board, John Watson."

Mr Miller said the booklet came with the postal ballot voting papers and was the main thing people looked at when they voted.

"The photo is pretty critical in a campaign because with 33 candidates your ability to get across a message is pretty limited.

"A lot of people will have voted by the time this error has been corrected."

He received the first calls from confused voters on Friday "wondering why there is a photo of a sports player instead of me".

He is friends with Mr Watson, a former rugby and cricket player and district councillor who is standing on the same "Putting People First" ticket.

Mr Watson said he would not complain to the electoral office because he was not standing for the health board.

Mr Miller said he would look to see how many people voted early and if confusion had led to spoiling of ballot papers he would challenge the ballot.

He last stood, unsuccessfully, as a Labour candidate in a local election in rural Dartmoor before leaving England.

Six years ago he moved to Whangaparaoa and until March worked as a social policy analyst for Rodney District Council and North Shore City Council.

Dale Ofsoske, of Independent Election Services, said the mix-up occurred when the nominations of both men were lodged at the same time at the Rodney District Council office.

"The officer wrote Mr Miller's name on the back of John Watson's photograph and attached it to Mr Miller's application for the health board."

Mr Ofsoske said the error did not invalidate the election.

But Mr Miller could lodge a petition of inquiry at the District Court after publication of the election result.