Election Day

We’re coming up on re-election day

New Zealand has been having one of its general elections recently. They happen every three years here, which is quite often. When the election comes around the Electoral Commission advertises for casual workers to deliver the election – around 20,000 people get involved in the whole process. Nicola and I decided to give it a go this year. 

We applied online and were duly invited to an interview/assessment to see whether we were suitable and for which roles. We both ended up being OSVIOs, which is Ordinary/Special Vote Issuing Officer. It’s our job to complete the voting paper (what used to be called a ballot paper) for each voter as they come to us; telling them how to mark their vote (if necessary), and where to put the voting paper when they’d finished.

Unlike some countries, voting is open for two weeks before the final Election Day, so voting places (what used to be called Polling Stations, but this is too difficult for some people to understand) are open and need to be staffed. We both attended training in the weeks before so that we would have a clear idea of what we were doing – you can watch so many videos and online modules, but there’s nothing like practising doing it for real. Nicola was allocated to work in the Miramar Community Centre, which is just down the road, and I was in Hataitai Community House, which is a bit further away, necessitating a drive. In the week before election day, I was working for five days, then did the final ED on Saturday. This is a long day, as we start at 9am instead of the usual 10am, and go through to 7pm instead of 4pm. But at 7pm, it’s not over. In the days leading up to ED, we’d finish up with a reconciliation to total all the votes issued that day to a running total – a process that normally took half an hour. On ED, however, we have to count all the votes for each candidate and each party, and send those to Electoral Headquarters. On ED I’d been moved to Miramar Community Hall so I was in a bigger voting place than I’d been used to. Additionally, we had three electorates for which we were counting votes there, and each one needs to be processed separately.

You remember that bit about “where to put their voting paper”? It’s up there, at the end of paragraph two? Yeah, that’s too hard. So when we were first starting the count, we had to open up all the ballot boxes and make sure that they contained only those votes for that electorate. You’re way ahead of me on this one, aren’t you? Of course there were some in the wrong boxes! After we’d sorted that out, the counting proper could begin. This is a long process, but once it’s complete the manager gets on the phone to headquarters and relays his results…which then get fed through to the TV stations and news networks.

We finished up around 11:15, signed out, said our goodbyes and “see you in three years!”es, and got home. My back was aching and I was still buzzing, so I watched the results show with a glass or two of muscle relaxant before I hit the hay.