This is a simple post and plea:
Please vote. Please have your say.
If you are as yet unenrolled - it is not too late! You can enroll at advanced voting booths and you don't even need to bring in your ID - just your name and address. You can't enroll on election day (I thought you could, but you can't) - but you can up until that day. And if you do need to go and enroll - you may as well just vote then and there. There are hardly any lines and it's pretty straight forward.
You do not need your easy vote card to vote - it is just like it sounds - it makes it easier to vote. You also do not have to vote in the electorate you are enrolled in - you can vote anywhere. You can even vote from overseas if you are already enrolled.
You can find more information on how to vote here. And you can find your nearest voting booth here. If you have a disability and it is hard - find more info on how to vote here. But I promise you, for most of us it's not hard and most people should be able to vote fairly easily. If you have no transport, maybe talk to friends and neighbours who live close by and all go and vote together. And if you know someone in this position that you can help out - help them have their say - bring them to vote with you.
If you think for any reason you can't vote on election day (this Saturday) just go vote early. High possibility of a hangover, you're going to be at the beach, you're going to be stuck with kids and no transport (like me) - just vote early. If you have health issues, or anxiety about crowds - vote early. There are very few people, few queues and it's not scary I promise (I voted on Friday).
I've spoken to numerous people who choose not to vote and the main issues I've heard are:
a) They don't feel qualified to vote
b) They feel their vote won't make a difference
c) They feel all political parties represent the same things.
If you are over 18 and are a New Zealander, then you are qualified to vote. If more people vote, the more accurate our representative democracy can be. If only wealthy, educated people vote, then the interests of wealthy, educated people will be what is most represented in parliament. Your vote is important no matter your background. It is important precisely because it represents you and what is important to you.
And your single vote can determine who is in government. More people didn't vote in the last election than voted for the party which won the election (National). Consequently, had those people voted we could have had a very different election outcome. We have had many very close elections, and we have also had many recounts in electorates because there were just a few votes separating the two top MPs. This happened in my electorate during the last election between Hone Harawira and Kelvin Davis. During the first count there were only 16 votes difference between them. And this is in a pretty big electorate. My single vote truly counted.
All political parties don't stand for the same things. If you don't want to read or know more than you already do, here are the simplest ways of thinking about your vote:
- Are you happy with the current direction of the country? If so, vote National. If not, vote Labour.
- If you are in favor of more social services - vote Labour. If you are in favor of lower income tax - vote National.
- If you like Bill English as our Prime Minister - vote National. If you like Jacinda Ardern- vote Labour.
- If you dislike both Labour and National immensely just vote for whichever minority party you like most.
Then either people vote to match your party vote, or if you know your candidates, just vote for who you like the most. Inversely, if you strongly dislike a candidate then vote for the MP of the party most likely to have a chance against them - so if you are in Upper Harbour and hate Paula Bennett just vote for the Labour candidate - whoever that is (it's Jin An)
There are also a multitude of calculators you can use to answer questions and get a run down on which parties values align most closely to yours. On The Fence is a good one which doesn't ask too many questions, and asks questions which relate specifically to NZ. Vote Compass is a more indepth quiz and a bit more generic to world politics. Either is helpful though if you are feeling really lost.
If money is your bottom line then it is worth checking out the income calculators of the major parties. Basically, if you are a lower income family, Labour will most likely be most beneficial to you. If you are a higher income family, or have a good income and/or no children, National will most likely be most beneficial to you.* It's totally worth checking both calculators because there are a few different factors here.
Cleaning up our waterways is one of my personal priorities.
My feeling about voting is that you should vote for a party that best represents what is important to you. You can compare policy very easily this election using this awesome app on The Spinoff. If you are unsure of who to vote for, pick something important to you and compare policy on The Spinoff app. This can be where the minority parties come in. For me personally, social equality, education and the environment are important to me. So I have party voted Green. I have a colleague who is strongly anti-immigration. She will be party voting NZ First.
The only issue with voting for minority parties is that in order to get into parliament, parties need to have at least 5% of the vote. So if you are voting for a minority party that is not very popular, chances are that they might not get in and their votes will be essentially absorbed by the bigger winning party. At this stage the only minorities looking likely to get through are Green and NZ First - but it doesn't mean that the other minorities won't. And it is your vote, and you can choose to put it where you like. This is the entire point of democracy.
When it comes to tactical voting ie: voting for what will most likely change/not change** the government I say you just consider this. What is more important to you? Is it more important that the government stays the same or changes? Or is it more important you give voice to the party that most represents your interests? It's the same with your people vote. Would you rather vote for the person you like the most? Or would you rather prevent the person you like least getting in to parliament? Because it is going to be a very close election this year, you might tactically vote where in other years you haven't. You might not.
The only thing I would say is to please don't worry too much about polls! How they are carried out has a huge affect on their accuracy. For instance, polls carried out via landline are only going to represent a small subsection of society - usually older, wealthier people (poor folk can't afford land lines, young folk don't usually feel like they need them) so these are inherently biased. The truth is, we won't know what is going to happen for sure until the day. If the polls are freaking you out - just vote from the heart and try not to overthink things.
The point of all this is that it's up to you! You are important. And once every three years you get the chance to influence the direction of your country. Government influences/determines everything including how much money you have in your pocket, how easy it is to go to the Drs, or how our criminal justice system works. These things directly effect you, and this is the time you get to have a say on it. Your voice is important.
* * * * * * * * *
If none of this helped at all and you still think voting is silly and you don't want to read further - just vote based on this image:
And if you have more time on your hands to vote at random, why not play this informative fighting game and vote based on which character is best at handling transport in a crisis. Or just who has the most badass depiction.
Not only can you vote for whoever you want - you can choose how you decide who to vote for in whatever way you like.
But please, vote.
* Our financial situation is such that there is very little financial difference whether we choose National or Labour (literally $1 better off a week under National). So if you are in a similar boat to us, it is better to look at broader financial factors, like health care costs, education costs, extra taxes. Or just forget about the money and look at another area that is important to you.
** Party Vote Labour or Greens for change, or Party Vote National to keep the status quo.
Please vote. Please have your say.
If you are as yet unenrolled - it is not too late! You can enroll at advanced voting booths and you don't even need to bring in your ID - just your name and address. You can't enroll on election day (I thought you could, but you can't) - but you can up until that day. And if you do need to go and enroll - you may as well just vote then and there. There are hardly any lines and it's pretty straight forward.
You do not need your easy vote card to vote - it is just like it sounds - it makes it easier to vote. You also do not have to vote in the electorate you are enrolled in - you can vote anywhere. You can even vote from overseas if you are already enrolled.
You can find more information on how to vote here. And you can find your nearest voting booth here. If you have a disability and it is hard - find more info on how to vote here. But I promise you, for most of us it's not hard and most people should be able to vote fairly easily. If you have no transport, maybe talk to friends and neighbours who live close by and all go and vote together. And if you know someone in this position that you can help out - help them have their say - bring them to vote with you.
If you think for any reason you can't vote on election day (this Saturday) just go vote early. High possibility of a hangover, you're going to be at the beach, you're going to be stuck with kids and no transport (like me) - just vote early. If you have health issues, or anxiety about crowds - vote early. There are very few people, few queues and it's not scary I promise (I voted on Friday).
I've spoken to numerous people who choose not to vote and the main issues I've heard are:
a) They don't feel qualified to vote
b) They feel their vote won't make a difference
c) They feel all political parties represent the same things.
If you are over 18 and are a New Zealander, then you are qualified to vote. If more people vote, the more accurate our representative democracy can be. If only wealthy, educated people vote, then the interests of wealthy, educated people will be what is most represented in parliament. Your vote is important no matter your background. It is important precisely because it represents you and what is important to you.
And your single vote can determine who is in government. More people didn't vote in the last election than voted for the party which won the election (National). Consequently, had those people voted we could have had a very different election outcome. We have had many very close elections, and we have also had many recounts in electorates because there were just a few votes separating the two top MPs. This happened in my electorate during the last election between Hone Harawira and Kelvin Davis. During the first count there were only 16 votes difference between them. And this is in a pretty big electorate. My single vote truly counted.
All political parties don't stand for the same things. If you don't want to read or know more than you already do, here are the simplest ways of thinking about your vote:
- Are you happy with the current direction of the country? If so, vote National. If not, vote Labour.
- If you are in favor of more social services - vote Labour. If you are in favor of lower income tax - vote National.
- If you like Bill English as our Prime Minister - vote National. If you like Jacinda Ardern- vote Labour.
- If you dislike both Labour and National immensely just vote for whichever minority party you like most.
Jacinda vs Bill - FIGHT!
Then either people vote to match your party vote, or if you know your candidates, just vote for who you like the most. Inversely, if you strongly dislike a candidate then vote for the MP of the party most likely to have a chance against them - so if you are in Upper Harbour and hate Paula Bennett just vote for the Labour candidate - whoever that is (it's Jin An)
There are also a multitude of calculators you can use to answer questions and get a run down on which parties values align most closely to yours. On The Fence is a good one which doesn't ask too many questions, and asks questions which relate specifically to NZ. Vote Compass is a more indepth quiz and a bit more generic to world politics. Either is helpful though if you are feeling really lost.
If money is your bottom line then it is worth checking out the income calculators of the major parties. Basically, if you are a lower income family, Labour will most likely be most beneficial to you. If you are a higher income family, or have a good income and/or no children, National will most likely be most beneficial to you.* It's totally worth checking both calculators because there are a few different factors here.
Cleaning up our waterways is one of my personal priorities.
The only issue with voting for minority parties is that in order to get into parliament, parties need to have at least 5% of the vote. So if you are voting for a minority party that is not very popular, chances are that they might not get in and their votes will be essentially absorbed by the bigger winning party. At this stage the only minorities looking likely to get through are Green and NZ First - but it doesn't mean that the other minorities won't. And it is your vote, and you can choose to put it where you like. This is the entire point of democracy.
When it comes to tactical voting ie: voting for what will most likely change/not change** the government I say you just consider this. What is more important to you? Is it more important that the government stays the same or changes? Or is it more important you give voice to the party that most represents your interests? It's the same with your people vote. Would you rather vote for the person you like the most? Or would you rather prevent the person you like least getting in to parliament? Because it is going to be a very close election this year, you might tactically vote where in other years you haven't. You might not.
Here is a poll. Just to think about. Feel free to ignore it.
The only thing I would say is to please don't worry too much about polls! How they are carried out has a huge affect on their accuracy. For instance, polls carried out via landline are only going to represent a small subsection of society - usually older, wealthier people (poor folk can't afford land lines, young folk don't usually feel like they need them) so these are inherently biased. The truth is, we won't know what is going to happen for sure until the day. If the polls are freaking you out - just vote from the heart and try not to overthink things.
The point of all this is that it's up to you! You are important. And once every three years you get the chance to influence the direction of your country. Government influences/determines everything including how much money you have in your pocket, how easy it is to go to the Drs, or how our criminal justice system works. These things directly effect you, and this is the time you get to have a say on it. Your voice is important.
* * * * * * * * *
If none of this helped at all and you still think voting is silly and you don't want to read further - just vote based on this image:
Truthfully though, I don't know why Ned Flanders isn't the Conservative guy.
I guess cos he's too nice to represent Colin Craig.
I guess cos he's too nice to represent Colin Craig.
Not only can you vote for whoever you want - you can choose how you decide who to vote for in whatever way you like.
But please, vote.
* Our financial situation is such that there is very little financial difference whether we choose National or Labour (literally $1 better off a week under National). So if you are in a similar boat to us, it is better to look at broader financial factors, like health care costs, education costs, extra taxes. Or just forget about the money and look at another area that is important to you.
** Party Vote Labour or Greens for change, or Party Vote National to keep the status quo.
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