Tai Tokerau Electoral Recount

MANA Leader and Tai Tokerau Spokesman Hone Harawira

Wed 8 October 2014

My last post was a bit ... boring. Here's the real reason behind the recount, and a few other very pertinent issues for ALL Maori voters.

MANA has applied for a judicial recount of the votes in the Tai Tokerau election because we want an independent review on the electoral processes which are seeing too many Maori votes rejected.

The application is not aimed at overturning the election result, but ensuring that all votes cast by Maori are treated with due respect, regardless of whether those votes are for Labour, Maori Party or MANA.

Our review of the 2014 election suggests there may be at least 1,000 special votes which were not properly counted. Many of those votes were rejected because voters were deemed to be not properly enrolled. We have asked the judge to look at those decisions.

A recount will ensure that at least some of the enrolment issues will be independently examined. Maori voters deserve to have their votes treated with due respect.

I first raised issues affecting Maori voters back in 2008. They were not addressed then so I laid a formal complaint after the 2011 election. Those issues continue to surface in 2014, and although many of them may not be addressed in a recount, they need to be highlighted again anyway.

Those issues include - polling booths without Maori roll voting papers; Maori people being turned away because their name wasn’t on the roll; Maori people being turned away because they didn’t have their ‘easy vote’ card; Maori people being told they can’t cast a special vote; Maori people being told they can’t vote at certain polling booths; Maori people being told to wait while Pakeha voters were served first; Maori people being told they have to travel more than 40kms to vote; Maori people not being offered assistance to vote; and Maori people having their identity questioned because of their many names.

Whether intentional or not, such practices make Maori voters feel like they don’t deserve to be in the polling booth, they make Maori feel dumb, and it puts them off voting.

A recount will not address many of these immediate issues, but it opens the door for us to at least challenge a number of the enrolment issues and the special voting procedures, as well as highlight the wider issue of the racism in the polling booths.

Maori voters, all Maori voters, deserve to have their votes treated with due respect. We want to see those issues addressed before the next election.

Hone Harawira

ends

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