Today is the last day to enroll – and you should

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, September 22nd, 2017 - 34 comments
Categories: class war, Deep stuff, democracy under attack, democratic participation, election 2017, human rights - Tags: , , , , , , ,

Today is the last day you can enroll to vote in the election. You can enroll if you are 18 years old or over and are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident (and you have lived in New Zealand for one year or more continuously at some point). (See also here for information about Pacifica voters).

Today you can go to any polling place and enroll and then vote at the same time. You don’t need any ID or documents to do this – you can enroll and vote today.

Tomorrow Saturday you can vote, but only if you are already enrolled. You cannot enroll on Saturday. Check out this page on how to enroll or check or update your details. Newshub has some good information about enrolling and voting.

Please vote

At this point far far too many people in the 18-24 age group are not enrolled. This suits the current government very well indeed. In general a majority of old people vote for the status quo and a majority of young people vote for change. Arguably a lot of old conservative tactics in NZ (and other countries) is about causing cynicism and disengagement from the political process, especially among the young. They don’t want you to use your voice for change. Your disengagement from politics is their win.

Update: If you are trying to enrol and the queues are long, here are the other ways you can do it, including online!

Update: you can enrol up until midnight Friday online, and then vote at a polling station on Saturday. Details here.

Update: It’s happening!

34 comments on “Today is the last day to enroll – and you should ”

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  1. WILD KATIPO 1
    22 September 2017 at 8:29 am

    5 minutes is all it takes !!! , – 5 minutes to take back what 33 years of neo liberalism is stealing from the younger voters . There’s an ideological war on right now for your hearts and minds and votes , – so enroll and vote .

    Be part of making history in this election and vote !

    Forrest Vietnam – YouTube
    forrest gump▶ 2:05

  2. veutoviper 2
    22 September 2017 at 1:50 pm

    Apparently enrollment and voting at Auckland University has been strong and today queues are very long today taking up stairwells etc. Photo and comments here.
    “The line for early voting at University of Auckland is insane – going all the way down the stairs spilling out into the quad. #WeAreVoters”

    https://twitter.com/Rock_Enrol/status/911009545241092096

    Stuff Live is also reporting “Sep 22, 2017 11:52 AMOlli
    Massive queues at Auckland Uni voting stations today – might be a much closer race than the polls suggest.”

    They are also the following:
    ” Sep 22, 2017 12:54 PMVernon Small
    The queues are about 20 long for specials and early voting at the Manukau Westfield mall pop-up polling booth.
    Waiting for the first of a frenetic round of Jacinda Ardern walkabouts here today. She is expected in about half an hour and then she will do a media stand up that we will bring you live so look out for that around 2pm. ”

    This timetable is running behind due to traffic problems on the Southern Motorway delaying her return from her grandmother’s funeral in Waikato.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/97116361/live-last-day-of-election-race

    • Brokenback 2.1
      22 September 2017 at 3:04 pm

      Just returned from early voting in the Far North.

      A lot of people on the streets and very busy at the Polling Booth.

      The majority of those present under 30 and queing for registration.

      The election staff that handed me my voting papers confirmed that yesterday and today were frantic and high proportion of clients were young people registering.

      Although it’s mere conjecture , a “youthquake” may be underway in a reef fish social media stimulated phenomenom ?

      • weka 2.2.1
        22 September 2017 at 5:11 pm

        I haven’t voted yet! Only because I’d have to drive to town rather than using the local booth that will be open only on Sat.

        • Carolyn_nth 2.2.1.1
          22 September 2017 at 5:14 pm

          Well, I also think many Monday-Friday 9am-5pm workers will wait til tomorrow to vote. The booths in my area were open 10am-4pm.

          There was a steady, slow stream of people when I voted – of all ages. There was a queue of one person in front of me.

  3. Whispering Kate 3
    22 September 2017 at 2:58 pm

    I know of somebody who has been so beaten and crushed by this Government I cannot convince this person to vote. This person has voted in earlier years but doesn’t seem to think it is worthwhile as the cyncism has set in so bad that she doesn’t think previous Governments have done much better in her lifetime either.

    I can sort of see where this person is coming from as they haven’t experienced NZ as it used to be and has only been witness to Rogernomics and further National Governments, even the last Labour Government didn’t seem to convince her. The trust is no longer there and in a way who can blame her. The lies and coverups are so frequent now that this person doesn’t give a shit anymore. She is in a very vulnerable position and I wish to God I could hog tie her in to vote – but there it is, another wasted opportunity.

    Maybe if Governments proved their worth and didn’t drain our social services and in this I include hospitals and Mental Health then maybe more people like this person would go and vote and have a belief that life would get better for them.

  4. peterh 4
    22 September 2017 at 3:59 pm

    As I stated earlier The youthquake is here, internal polling neck and neck

    • Union city greens 4.1
      22 September 2017 at 5:45 pm

      If it’s going to be tight, my dream scenario is labour and nats poll the same, greens get 8-10% and winston doesn’t make the threshold. Green labour government.

  5. tracey 5
    22 September 2017 at 4:53 pm

    The Herald is advertising the last word to a balanced quartet…

    Hosking, Leighton Smith Larry Williams, Kerre McIvor

    What the very F@#@

    • WILD KATIPO 5.1
      22 September 2017 at 5:22 pm

      L0L0L !…. I just looked at that !

      It was a jawdropper, – 4 of the biggest and most legendary Nat sycophants in a row …

      It’ll be worth it for Labour and Greens to win just to make them squeal.

      • greg 5.1.1
        22 September 2017 at 6:53 pm

        can we please sell tvnz and use the proceeds to build up rnz and especially checkpoint and john Campbell

  6. rhinocrates 6
    22 September 2017 at 5:03 pm

    And for amusement on the election night. On doctor’s orders, it’ll be herbal tea and zero-sugar soft drinks for me, alas, but a spoof poster circulating suggests that you drink your chosen party colours – if it’s Act, urine, and if it’s Conservative, window cleaner and chlorine bleach.

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1709/S00382/the-2017-nz-election-drinking-game.htm

  7. ianmac 7
    22 September 2017 at 5:24 pm

    I only just realised that all those who enrolled and voted have to use the special votes. These specials wont be reported for a couple of weeks. Therefore if the special numbers are very high we won’t have a result for a long time let alone the negotiating which will also be delayed.
    Unless there is a stunning unassailable lead from one or other big party.

  8. Exkiwiforces 8
    22 September 2017 at 5:45 pm

    It’s good to see today’s youth have finally woken up to make their votes count and it would’ve made my late grandmother very proud, but weather they are voting Labour is another story. This not good for NACT’s if the youth are voting, but who really cares about NACT’s.

    Please fasten your seatbelts and remember where your emergency exits are as we have some rough weather ahead in Wellington.

  9. rhinocrates 9
    22 September 2017 at 6:00 pm

    Some very timely reading from The Grauniad

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/22/the-inside-story-of-labours-election-shock-jeremy-corbyn

    The inside story of Labour’s election shock
    When a snap election was called, a divided Labour sprang into action to defy predictions of a wipeout and upturn the political consensus. The key players tell Heather Stewart how it all happened

    And:

    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/sep/21/why-we-need-the-welfare-state-more-than-ever

    Why we need the welfare state more than ever
    Shocked by the ‘poverty cycle’, British reformers created a safety net for casual workers. Now precarious working conditions are back, and the welfare state is under attack. By Chris Renwick

  10. RedLogix 10
    22 September 2017 at 6:38 pm

    Yikes it’s a fiddle voting from overseas. Took three passes and about 2 hours all up to both re-enrol and vote. No wonder so few of us bother.

    The other trap is that if you are living permanently overseas as an NZ citizen you have to have visited NZ sometime within the past three years in order to qualify. That must rule quite a few people out as well.

    Still I will give the Elections.org.nz website credit for being straightforward and effective.

    • weka 10.1
      22 September 2017 at 6:43 pm

      Wow, that’s not good. Was the website overloaded?

      • RedLogix 10.1.1
        22 September 2017 at 6:49 pm

        Nothing wrong with the website, there is just multiple steps involved in checking if you’re enrolled, downloading that form, filling it out, scanning it, uploading it … checking multiple times to see when it’s been actioned, downloading your special declaration and voting form, getting the declaration witnessed and signed, scanning them both and uploading them without any mistakes.

        It’s not an entirely unreasonable process, but takes more effort than turning up at a booth. (The nearest ones to us are in central Melbourne over 90 mins away at best.)

        Last election I read that of the 650,000 odd kiwi citizens living in Australia, only 28,000 were enrolled and 14,000 actually voted. IIRC

        • weka 10.1.1.1
          22 September 2017 at 6:57 pm

          Ok, so you have to scan the forms. Does that work with say taking a photo and uploading it?

          Those figures are really bad.

        • Exkiwiforces 10.1.1.2
          22 September 2017 at 8:28 pm

          I voted in Darwin last Friday at NTEC office and I was about sixth or seventh person that morning. I don’t really trust the internet voting thing from the Australian end or the NZ end. Overall it took about 15mins or so and end up helping poor lady behind counter out a couple a times filling out the forms. The quickest vote I did was in Paris back in 08 and last time I didn’t vote while overseas was when I was in East Timor in 99 (INTERFET) . As I was out on patrol and couldn’t get back as our section discovered a war crime site as I was the lead scout at the time. That’s another story to tell one day.

          • RedLogix 10.1.1.2.1
            22 September 2017 at 8:44 pm

            Yeah the security thing did occur to me, but I’ve reached the point work-wise where I don’t really care too much. But you make a good point, there didn’t seem to be any obvious encryption going on.

            Here is the link to the upload page; not even an https.

            http://www.elections.org.nz/events/2017-general-election/voting-2017-general-election/voting-overseas/upload-your-voting-papers

            Still I’ve no idea what backend tech may or may not be in place, but at first glance it does seem all a bit too open. Certainly they’re not making any effort to reassure you about the privacy of your vote, or the potential security issues involved.

            An Electoral Commission office would probably be a better choice, but it would gobble up the better part of $80 and most of a whole day for both of us to get there by V-Line.

            • Exkiwiforces 10.1.1.2.1.1
              22 September 2017 at 9:31 pm

              Geez, that’s a bit suspect in regards to security, my other concern was our internet connectivity here in the NT can a little fragile sometimes regardless of the time of day. Also putting your faith in good old V/line maybe pushing it a bit, so you must live in the nth east of vic then?

    • NZFemme 10.2
      22 September 2017 at 11:13 pm

      Wow RL, I had a very different experience from yours – voted from the UK yesterday after enrolling the previous day online, and had no issues uploading my vote and declaration. (Photographed not scanned).

  11. greg 11
    22 September 2017 at 6:43 pm

    i think its happening we are in for an upset the generational shift is underway
    9 years to long prime minister adern you have one hell of a mess to clean up you have given us all hope !@

  12. Carolyn_nth 12
    22 September 2017 at 6:59 pm

    No Right Turn has tweeted:

    23K new enrollments since Tuesday, 12.5K of them under 35

    If you scroll down you can se he’s done the maths himself by comparing with an earlier table.

    The latest table at the Electoral Commission was updated at 6pm.

    PS: it’s noticeable that a higher proportion of 35 years old and over have enrolled – all age groups above 35 yrs at 90+%.

    30-35 year olds at 87%.

    18-24 year olds – just under 70% of the age group are enrolled.

  13. Rosemary McDonald 13
    22 September 2017 at 7:06 pm

    Latest news bulletin on Natrad….Mt Albert ran out of enrollment forms…had to send out for reinforcements.

    How cool is that?

  14. Psycho Milt 14
    22 September 2017 at 11:26 pm

    I was at Uni of Canterbury today, looking down from the James Hight Library mezzanine at the queue of students enrolling and voting. Heartwarming stuff, even if a proportion of them would have been voting National or similar.