Harawira: Recount shows racism at polling booths

Hone Harawira has issues about special votes.

Mana Movement leader Hone Harawira says a judicial recount of the Te Tai Tokerau electorate is not about overturning the result - he lost to Labour's Kelvin Davis - but to highlight "racism" towards Maori voters by election officials.

The results of the recount were released yesterday and have given Mr Davis a slightly larger majority, but the judge overseeing the recount says there are matters raised that are of concern.

Mr Harawira called for a judicial recount over concerns that people were not allowed to cast special votes because they were not on the electoral roll.

In his application, Mr Harawira said he was concerned about the large number of special votes that were rejected because the voter was not enrolled.

He aimed to ensure that the votes in his electorate were counted to the fullest extent possible, including reconsideration of special votes rejected because candidates could not be found on the electoral roll.

Mr Harawira lost his Te Tai Tokerau seat to Labour's Kelvin Davis by 739 votes.

Judge Tom Broadmore has been overseeing the recount in Auckland over the last few days and yesterday released the results, which show that Mr Davis' majority over Mr Harawira increased slightly to 751 votes.

In his decision, Judge Broadmore said within the next few days he would issue an expanded version of his decision, setting out details of the way in which the recount was undertaken.

"I will issue a further judgment to record matters coming to my attention during the recount, of concern to the parties, but not affecting the result. Interested parties may wish to pursue those concerns through other channels," the judge said.

Mr Harawira said the purpose of the recount was not to overturn the result, but to highlight the way Maori voters were treated by election officials at polling booths across Te Tai Tokerau.

"A recount ... opens the door for us to at least challenge a number of the enrolment issues and the special voting procedures, as well as highlight the wider issue of the racism in the polling booths," he said.