Mike's Minute: We changed the election laws because we're hopeless

If you want to get a bit angsty about the voting changes, the one everyone seems to have missed is the one about how it's being changed because we are so hopeless. 

On the “disenfranchised” side of the equation, I have little, if any, time for it. 

An election is held every three years. Between the last one and the next one that’s a lot of days to, at some point, stick your name down for another crack. 

The fact you can't rock up on the day is only going to “disenfranchise” you if you are a bit disorganised. 

Everyone loves a conspiracy theory so a few jumped on the old "it will favour the right" line. It won't. 

But here is the bigger question: why can't you enrol on the day? Because we can't cope. 

Why can't we cope? Because we are a small island backwater with a technological mentality to go with it. 

I asked Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith last week why we aren't like the Germans. The German elections have their results as the polls close. Watch them next time, it's awesome. 

We don’t, he said, because they're efficient. Why aren't we efficient? He laughed, as well he might. 

Elections, technologically, are the thing time forgot. Years back we talked of phones and votes and electronic registration. None of it has happened and none of it will. 

We can't conduct a Census properly, we make a marae a polling station where the CEO is also the candidate and we still have rules being changed around food and drink, despite the fact that got first raised as an issue 100 years ago when they called it treating. 

We have mail votes at local body elections, despite the fact no one uses mail, so the post office is besides themselves. 

Our rules around political donations are constantly tinkered with. 

Elections just appear a bit hard for us. It's true there are issues elsewhere - we don’t seem to have the waiting times many do, we are corruption free, and participation is high. 

But the fact you can't execute a fairly simple and logical idea like same-day registration does remind you that when it comes to modern day efficiency, it's not a “disenfranchising” scandal that did us in. 

It's the gliding-on nature of how we run things. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, if you want to get a bit angsty about
these voting changes, the one everyone seems to have missed
is the one about how it's been changed because we're
so hopeless. See on the disenfranchised side of the equation,
I've got little of any time for it. An elections held.
I don't know if you realize this, but an elections
held every three years between the last one and the
next one. That's a lot of days, and at some

(00:21):
point you might want to stick your name down to
have another crack. The fact you can't rock up on
the day is only going to disenfranchise you if you're
a bit disorganized. Everyone loves a conspiracy theory, so if
you jumped on the old, oh, it's going to favor
the right. No it's not. But here's the bigger question.
Why can't you enroll on the day? You know why?
Because we can't cope? Why can't we cope because we're

(00:41):
a small island backwater with the technological mentality to go
with it. I asked Paul Goldsmith, the Justice Minister, on
the program last week why we aren't like the Germans.
The German elections have their results. As the polls closed,
watch the next time. It's fantastic. We don't, he said,
because they're efficient. Why aren't we efficient, I asked him.
You might have heard, he laughed, as well. He might.

(01:03):
Elections technologically, there are a thing time forgotten this country.
I mean, years back, we talked to phones and votes
and electronic registration. None of it's happened, none of it
ever will. We can't conduct a census properly. For God's sake,
we make a Mariah polling station where the CEO is
also a candidate. We still have rules being changed around
food and drink, despite the fact that got first raised

(01:24):
as an issue one hundred years ago when they call
it treating. We got mail votes at local body elections,
despite the fact no one uses mail, so the post
officers beside themselves our rules around political donations. They're constantly
being tinkered with elections. Just to bear a bit hard
for us. It is true there are issues elsewhere, of
course there are. We don't seem to have waiting times
many countries do. We're corruption free, which is good. Participations high,

(01:47):
that's good. But the fact you can't execute a fairly
simple and logical idea like same day registration does remind
you that when it comes to modern day efficiency, it's
not a disenfranchising scandal that did us in the gliding
on nature of how we run things. For more from
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