LGNZ president Sam Broughton told Morning Report part of the reason for low turnout was voters having to deal with postal voting in the digital age, or not having access to polling places and not knowing the candidates.
The Electoral Commission should run all the elections in a standardised process across the country, he said.
“One of the key recommendations is that we should return to having a polling day, as well as the open voting beforehand,” he said.
These are all worthwhile things, but won’t change things much. The one change that would massively lift turnout is allowing people to return their voting paper via the Internet.
By this I don’t mean Internet voting, which is where you vote on a website, and your vote is recorded and tallied over the Internet. I mean simply using the Internet to deliver your ballot paper to the Returning Officer.
Every resident gets a voting paper with a unique barcode that identifies them (so verifies they are enrolled). What I propose is that once they have completed it, they can take a photo of it on their phone, and then either e-mail the ballot to the Returning Office, or upload it via a website to the returning officer.
This is in fact more secure than relying on the post, as you get a receipt acknowledging it has been received.
And this method has actually been in place for the last few general elections – it is how the vast majority of NZers overseas vote in a general election. I estimate over 200,000 New Zealanders have used this method to vote in general elections.
Postal voting is a dying mechanism. Booth voting can help, but you’re still going to have much lower turnout than general elections, as the stakes are less. You need to make it as easy as possible to vote, and sending in your ballot via the Internet (which is not Internet voting) is a tried and tested method we have used for the last four or more general elections.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
By this I don’t mean Internet voting, which is where you vote on a website, and your vote is recorded and tallied over the Internet. I mean simply using the Internet to deliver your ballot paper to the Returning Officer.
Every resident gets a voting paper with a unique barcode that identifies them (so verifies they are enrolled). What I propose is that once they have completed it, they can take a photo of it on their phone, and then either e-mail the ballot to the Returning Office, or upload it via a website to the returning officer.
This is in fact more secure than relying on the post, as you get a receipt acknowledging it has been received.
And this method has actually been in place for the last few general elections – it is how the vast majority of NZers overseas vote in a general election. I estimate over 200,000 New Zealanders have used this method to vote in general elections.
Postal voting is a dying mechanism. Booth voting can help, but you’re still going to have much lower turnout than general elections, as the stakes are less. You need to make it as easy as possible to vote, and sending in your ballot via the Internet (which is not Internet voting) is a tried and tested method we have used for the last four or more general elections.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
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