Probe launched into vote-taker's resthome visit

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

A claim that an election official prompted mentally impaired elderly people to vote for Labour during a visit yesterday to a Mangere nursing home is being investigated.

A nurse complained that she saw the worker tick voting papers after prompting two and possibly three Polynesian women to indicate a preference for Labour, even though she was convinced they did not understand what they were being told.

The registered nurse, who did not want to be named, said the official put his hand on a Tongan woman's head and nodded it in an apparent bid to sanction a Labour vote.

"He just said, 'the Labour Party', and put his hand behind her head and, forcing it forward, ticked the Labour Party," the nurse said.

The man allegedly told the nurse that another woman indicated in Niuean she wanted to vote Labour, and he ticked the paper accordingly.

But the woman told the nurse she had actually complained about not going to the toilet before he called at 11am to collect special votes.

The nurse said the man ticked a paper for a third woman who kept saying, "I don't know", one of only two English phrases she knew, although the nurse was unable to see whether that vote was for Labour.

Chief Electoral Officer David Henry confirmed last night that his acting returning officer in Mangere, Cherry Parker, was investigating a complaint from a nursing home.

"I wouldn't underestimate the seriousness of this," Mr Henry said.

The complaint follows the dismissal this week of Mangere's previous returning officer, Hofeni Pavihi, and the walkout of about 12 staff.

The nurse told the Weekend Herald she was not against Labour but was most upset at what she saw.

Labour's Mangere MP, Taito Phillip Field, became angry when asked about the complaint, saying: "It's just absolute nonsense - I can assure you we've had nothing to do with people who have taken special votes."

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