Election 2020: Advance voting begins across Whanganui

Kyle Dalton and Karen Aukett, Issuing Officers at the UCOL voting location. Photo / Bevan Conley

Ballot boxes are officially open with advance voting in this year's general election opening over the weekend.

In Whanganui, eight voting places opened their doors on Saturday, encouraging voters to cast their ballots just under two weeks out from election day.

Whanganui Returning Officer Michelle Colson said the first two days of advance voting were impressive.

"It went off to a flying start," she said. "It was probably a bit busier than we thought it would be. We were delighted to find that there were queues of people waiting for the voting places to open."

This year the polling places also have the ability to enrol voters on the spot, both in advance and on election day itself, to ensure all people wishing to vote are able to do so.

Whanganui voters are slightly above the national average for enrolment, with 90.58 per cent of eligible voters already enrolled to vote. In the Rangitikei electorate, 88.1 per cent of eligible voters are enrolled, slightly below the national average.

The uptake in advance voting comes off the back of Covid-19, where the Electoral Commission is encouraging voters to cast their ballots early, ensuring booths aren't crowded on election day should there be another outbreak. Next Saturday is expected to be the peak of advance voting, with 27 polling places open.

Chief Electoral Officer Alicia Wright said the election was being run as it would be under alert level 2 conditions.

"Our message is to vote early and vote local because it's more convenient and minimises election day queues, which lessens the risk of Covid-19," Wright said.

"We'll still be running the election as though the country were at alert level 2, so there will be physical distancing, use of hand sanitiser, voluntary contact tracing, single-use pens to mark voting papers, and PPE on hand for staff in case it's needed."

Both Labour leader Jacinda Ardern and National leader Judith Collins placed their votes over the weekend, in an effort to encourage voters to do the same. NZ First leader Winston Peters decided against it, opting for a more traditional method of voting on election day itself.

In the last election, 1.2 million votes were cast before election day. This was up from 2014 and 2011, where only 717,000 and 330,000 early votes were cast respectively. It's expected that in this election 60 per cent of votes will be cast before election day itself, not only making the election day count quicker and easier, but also keeping voters much safer from the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

"I would encourage people to vote early," Colson said. "We just say vote in advance, it's more comfortable, easy and there's a variety of places to go to.

"Don't hold back."

Advance Voting Centres open from Tuesday October, 6

All Saints Church Hall, Whanganui
The Treasury, Whanganui
UCOL Backhouse Building, Whanganui
Rangahaua Marae Wharekai, Whanganui
Baden Powell Scout Hall, Whanganui
St Andrew's Church Hall, Marton