Posts by Graeme Edgeler
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Chris Waugh,
According to Elections New Zealand:
You cannot enrol if:
• you are a New Zealand citizen who is outside New Zealand and has not been in New Zealand within the last 3 years or
• you are a permanent resident of New Zealand who is outside New Zealand and has not been in New Zealand within the last 12 months.Indeed. I thought about going through the entire eligibility rules, but suggesting that people may be entitled to enrol when there’s some rule that precludes them, in particular, from voting doesn’t seem as bad as telling people who are entitled to vote that they are not entitled to. So I decided to focus on correcting that.
You also can’t enrol if you’re on the corrupt practices list, and you can enrol despite not being in New Zealand if your time overseas without return is in the military or diplomatic service etc.
And my reference to the Armed Forces Discipline Act was just a bit of fun and a dig at the rather sloppy legislating that was involved in disenfranchising short-term prisoners who happen to be inside on election day.
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Wall photos include the B52’s 1st album. 9th pic depicts sleeping seals & is mysteriously dedicated to Graeme Edgeler.
The photos are of things with numbers on them, counting down the days until the election (I imagine the B52's photo was when there were 52 days to go). The dedication to me follows my actually counting the days until the election one time and suggesting there was a mistake :-)
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Stephen Judd,
You can start the process of updating your address via TXT. But the process still involves the post eventually.
Nope. It can also be done by fax. Or using a scanner and email.
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Which would mean that I’m eligible to vote for the first time since 1999 – except that last time I was in NZ I spent a week each in Hamilton and Wellington (based in Kapiti), so how I’d enroll having not lived in any electorate for one month, I don’t know…
Have you ever lived in one place for at least a month?
If so, then then the electorate in which that address now is, is your electorate (you can have a different postal address).
If you've been a complete itinerant for your entire time in New Zealand, there are still rules around where you should register, and you can register.
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
In terms of preventing fraud, at the moment we rely on the idea that one has to re-register each year (?) at home and then vote at a local polling booth, where they tick you off a manual list.
You do not need to re-register every year (or even every three). We run a continuous enrolment system, whereby people are enrolled until there is reason to remove them. Before each election, the Electoral Enrolment Centre sends every registered voter a letter, but if the enrolment details are unchanged, nothing needs to be returned.
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Then a very large percentage of the country would get registered
A very large percentage of the country is registered :-)
We're recognised as world leaders in electoral enrolments.
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Still, is there any clause in the Electoral Act that safeguards against misleading of voters?
Yes. Winston Peters (I think) got them to add one a few years' back. However, it only applies on election day and during the 48 hours before it.
It happens to be the reason I always got annoyed with Jim Anderton's argument in favour of the Electoral Finance Act. The things he was complaining of (a misleading ad drop shortly before the election) were more illegal (i.e. much stiffer penalty) under the old law than they were under the law he was promoting to remedy his concern.
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Paul Campbell,
Well ours is (or rather was) based on that form you fill in when you file your change of address with the Post Office – the PO used to do all the enrollment back in the day before it was semi-privatised
They still do. The Electoral Enrolment Centre is a business unit of New Zealand Post.
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Legal Beagle: Election Fact Check #3: It…, in reply to Paul Campbell,
presumably people on remand (ie not yet convicted of anything) are also allowed to vote?
Yes. The operative word is "sentenced".
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I do that almost every time. Comments now open.