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More than a million people have already cast their vote in this year’s elections.
In the first nine days of the early voting period, 1,153,334 people have voted, that is, 33.56 percent of the entire registered population and 43.85 percent of the total number of votes cast in 2017.
The Election Commission counted 453,426 votes over the weekend: 253,616 on Saturday and 199,810 on Sunday.
Saturday’s count surpassed the previous record: 253,473 votes cast the day before Election Day in 2017.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomed the high number of early votes and continued to encourage voters to go to the polls.
“If you leave it for the last day, things happen, life happens. We want to make sure people vote early so they don’t miss out, “he said Sunday.
The message of voting early and voting locally has been strongly pushed by the Election Commission, which has worked to open as many polling stations across the country as possible. 1,350 polling places were opened on Saturday and 850 on Sunday.
On Election Day, October 17, 2,600 stations will be open.
Kevin Stent / Stuff
More than 1 million Kiwis have cast their vote before the official election day on October 17.
Several politicians, including Ardern, his national opponent Judith Collins, Green Party co-leader James Shaw and Labor Grant Robertson have cast their votes early.
Speaking to the media in Hamilton on Monday, Ardern predicted that early voting could become the norm in future elections. “Perhaps in time, Election Day will become the last day, rather than ‘the’ day.”
She said that accepting early voting in the past (47 percent of all votes in 2017 were cast before Election Day) led the Labor Party to publish its policies “well and early” to allow voters to have enough time to make a decision.
The stability in the polls suggests that people are ensuring their voting choices and ensuring certainty, Ardern said. In the most recent 1 News / Colmar Brunton poll, Labor held steady and in the lead with 47 percent support, while National fell one point to 32 percent.
Breakfast
Friday’s figures show that more than 585,000 New Zealanders have already cast their votes.
In Christchurch, Collins hoped the number of early votes would be good news for his party.
“There are many people who say ‘okay, okay, we’ve already voted, [we voted] two blue ticks, ‘”he told the media.
Ardern, Collins and the other contenders are on the home stretch for the 2020 election with just four days left on official election day.
