Heather du Plessis-Allan: This is why postal voting needs to go

Surely that judge throwing out the election result in Auckland has started the clock ticking on postal voting. 

This case may not seem a big deal given that it involves just 79 votes, in just one subdivision, in just one relatively small local board election in Auckland. 

But the 79 may just be the tip of the iceberg. It may be that hundreds of ballot papers in that subdivision were stolen from letterboxes, filled in and sent in as legit votes. 

Now Ken Turner from the Waitakere's is also considering legal options because he reckons something funny happened with 212 votes in his election too. 

None of this is a surprise to me because years ago when friends of mine were flatting, as happens, mail turned up for previous tenants. 

Some of that mail was voting papers. So my friends filled the papers in and sent them all back in as legitimate votes and no one ever got in trouble for it. 

We all know the mail voting system is ripe for being gamed. 

But perhaps in our naivety we hadn’t imagined it would go from a bunch of silly flatties to what seems like may have been an orchestrated rigging of an election. 

Postal voting should go the way of the horse and cart. It's not the only reason so many of us can’t be bothered with council elections, but it is a significant part of it. 

You get the mail, pop it on the counter, forget about it, find it after election day is well past, or find it too hard to remember where to find a post box. 

Not only does it make it harder to vote, it also makes it harder to trust the election outcome. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, surely to goodness the judge throwing out that election
result in Auckland has started the clock ticking on postal
voting and council elections. I mean, this case may not
seem like a big deal, given that it involves just
seventy nine votes in just one subdivision in just one
relatively small local board election in Auckland. But the seventy
nine may be just the tip of the iceberg. I mean,
it may actually be that hundreds of ballot papers and

(00:21):
that subdivision was stolen from letterboxes, filled in and then
passed off as legit votes. Now Ken Turner from the
White Tarkety's other side of the city is also considering
legal options because he reckons something funny happened with about
two hundred and twelve votes in his election as well.
None of this surprises me because years ago, when friends
of mine was still flatting, as happens, mail turned up

(00:43):
for previous tenants. Some of that quite a lot of
that male, like we're talking close to about ten to
twelve pieces of that male were voting papers from previous tenants.
So my friends did what flatties do. They filled the
papers and sent them all back in as legitimate votes.
No one ever got in trouble for it. I know
that the mail voting system is ripe for being gamed,
but perhaps in our naivety, we hadn't imagined it would

(01:04):
go from a bunch of silly flatties to what seems
like it may have been an orchestrated rigging of an election.
At worst. Postal voting should absolutely one hundred percent go
the way of the horse and the cart. It is
not the only reason so many of us can't be
bothered with council elections, but it is a significant part
of it. Be honest about it. You get the mail,
you pop it on the counter, you forget about it,

(01:25):
you find it after election day as well passed, or
you see it then and then you find it too
hard to remember where to find a postbox. Not only
does it make it harder to vote, but it also
makes it we now find out harder to trust the
election outcome. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen
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