2020 Election Results: Will Special Votes Change The Result?

By Russell Palmer of RNZ

Special votes can be returned and counted up to 10 days after Election Day, so there is some delay.

An estimated 480,000 votes remain (17 percent of the total) yet to be counted, and they could make slight changes to the election result.

Here’s what they are, why they’re special, and what you need to know about them.

What are special vows

Special votes are those that are not on the printed electoral roll, or are not made at a polling place. The voter must also sign a declaration form.

They can include post-in and overseas votes, and votes made by people who have signed up after the day of writing, which was September 13 this year. It also includes prisoners who are on remand and, for the first time in a decade, prisoners who have been sentenced to less than three years.

They also include the votes of people who have cast their vote from an electorate in which they are not registered.

Special votes also include votes in which people have cast an electorate vote for an electorate in which they are not registered. These are still counted as party-only votes.

People who may not have been able to get to a polling place may include people who have chosen to vote by mail for various reasons, including illness that keeps them at home or in the hospital, or people who can convince the teller that they are going to a polling place. it would cause serious difficulties or inconvenience.

People with a physical disability that means they cannot mark their ballot can also vote using a telephone dictation service.

Presumably this year it will include some people who are in controlled isolation.

Some people may also not want to appear on the list and therefore choose to enter the unpublished list.

This year, for the first time, people were able to register to vote at a polling place on Election Day. These votes, which have been registered after the day of writing, will also be counted as special votes.

How are special votes counted?

Special votes can be returned up to 10 days after Election Day.

They must be counted in the electorate for which they were elected, so it may take some time for the ballot to arrive at the correct place.

The vote must be checked against the electoral roll, and if the voter is not on it, the vote must be confirmed and the voter added to a list of voters who are not on the census before being added to the official count.

What effect do special vows have?

In the last elections there were 446,287 special votes, 61,524 of them from abroad, representing 17% of the total of 2,591,896.

This year’s figures are similar, with an estimated 480,000 votes (again, 17 percent of the total) yet to be counted.

Special votes are usually more left-wing votes.

In 2017, after the special votes were counted, National lost two seats, Labor lost one and the Green Party won two. In 2014, National lost two seats, with Greens and Labor winning one each.

The same kind of minor changes could happen again this year, but they are unlikely to fundamentally alter the balance of power in Parliament.