Election 2023: Willing staff needed to be part of New Zealand’s democratic process

There are still vacancies for electoral workers in the Taranaki-King Country electorate. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

By Mark Irwin, Electoral Commission electoral manager, Taranaki-King Country

With election day just around the corner on Saturday, October 14, and advance voting starting on Monday, October 2, we’ve been incredibly busy getting the region ready to have their say.

But we can’t do it alone and are in the midst of a massive recruitment campaign to find people to work for us and help their communities vote. We offer a living wage and the ability to do as many or as few hours as you want.

We even pay you for any training needed for your new job.

It’s probably not something many have thought about, but holding an election is actually a big job and we need lots of help from our communities to ensure everybody can cast their vote.

We’ve been looking for more than 20,000 people across the country to help staff the voting places, assist people with getting enrolled, and fulfil the many jobs required to hold an election.

While we’re doing really well finding local people to help out, we’re still looking for a few more people, especially those who are willing to travel and work in the country areas around Te Kūiti and Ōtorohanga.

While many of these roles don’t require any experience, we do ask that you are able to remain politically neutral and are able to check your personal views and political affiliations at the door.

For some jobs it would be good to have a bit of experience, for example we are also looking for some local people to be Mobile Support Officers and having worked at an election before would be an advantage.

If you haven’t already please enrol to vote, or check your enrolment details online at vote.nz, or have an enrolment form sent out to you by calling 0800 36 76 56, or texting your name and address to 3676.

If you’re keen on earning a bit of money while helping your community vote during the election, go online and apply for a you’re interested in at work.elections.nz.