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Saturday, November 5, 2022

Cam Slater: Have We Got a Case of Ballot Stuffing in Auckland?


It looks like there will be an electoral petition in the Albert-Eden-Puketapapa council ward after some voting shenanigans have come to light. It seems that we may very well have a case of ballot stuffing in Auckland:

A former Auckland board member has claimed he has evidence of “skulduggery” going on in the recent local elections – and wants a re-run of the process.

Will McKenzie, a former member of the Albert-Eden Local Board, was elected in a by-election in 2021 after member Benjamin Lee resigned.

But the final count for the 2022 election for the Albert-Eden-Puketapapa council ward left McKenzie, with 16,182 votes, trailing Julie Fairey with 16,966 and Christine Fletcher with 20,021.

There had been lots of stories of ballots being picked up from addresses where the person no longer lived, or one person filling out more than one ballot paper, McKenzie said.

“There are reports of skulduggery … we think it is time to run a test case.”
Stuff

Sources close to this case say that it appears they have a clear-cut case of ballot stuffing, that saw a huge surge benefit Julie Fairey, the wife of cabinet minister Michael “River of Filth” Wood at the last minute. Remember in the first results that were released she was gone for all money, but miraculously there was a surge of last minute votes that got her home.

There is a suggestion that there is video evidence of what appears to be ballot stuffing.

What is going to be interesting in this case is whether or not the election process is going to meet the threshold for certification as stipulated by the law:



Click images to view

The BFD understands that there will be a focus on the processes used, if any, to ascertain that the person who is recorded as having voted, did in fact fill out the form and that the information on voters who have voted wasn’t passed on to any other party prior to the closing of the ballot.

There is also an issue regarding scrutineering. The law actually prevents scrutineering until the close of the poll, circumventing proper scrutiny of voting and voting processes.

What is pleasing to see is that it appears that someone inside C&R has grown some balls and backed this electoral petition. Now let’s see what the courts have to say.

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. This article was first published HERE

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I always wondered about this....and Julie Faireys + her husband involvement especially his status as a Labour Minister.