Maori Council warns the Electoral Commission “you had one job – get it right” as some voters are turned away and ballot papers miss key information

The New Zealand Maori Council has put a shot across the bow of the New Zealand Electoral Commission to clean up their act ahead of polling day with Executive Director Matthew Tukaki saying that “they have one job every three years to get it right and yet they continue to get it wrong”

“More than 370,000 people have voted so far double the number of early voters in the last election and yet we continue to have issues from ballot papers to reports people are being turned away. And to add to it I am also getting reports that some booths do not carry any or enough of the ballot papers for those voting in the Maori electorates” Tukaki said

“The case of a missing box next to Vision New Zealand and the party vote also calls into question the integrity of the papers and could possibly leave things open to judicial review – this is not a banana republic election for crying out loud” Tukaki said

“And there is the comment from the Electoral Commission voting services manager Graeme Astle that people being turned away were isolated incidents. On what planet is Graeme from? In New Zealand every citizen has the right to vote and one incident is one too many. I suggest Mr Astle gets his skates on and instead of downplaying these incidents he does something about it” Tukaki said

“New Zealanders and Maori deserve more from the Electoral Commission – they have one job and if they cant get it right then post the 2020 election its time for an overhaul.” Tukaki said

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