Critic tackles election year | Issue 12

The polling booth

For many of you, this will be your first election; and if you’re into politics enough to be reading this, that’s very exciting. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been picking brains and studying policy in an effort to present a few of the people who you’ll have the opportunity to vote for. This week, I’m going to dial it back and focus on what you’ll actually do on 20 September – vote. To do that, here’s a handy-dandy infographic on MMP, and a few things to help you mentally prepare yourself for that special Saturday. Hopefully you’ll be able to find your way to the polling booth without much difficulty.



Enrol to vote
If you’ve just turned 18, you probably will have received your voting papers in the mail. And hopefully, you will have filled them out. If you haven’t, however, it’s very easy to hop online to the elections website and get it all sorted. Youth disengagement is one of the biggest issues in politics, so by making sure you’re registered to vote you’ll be set to have your say on election day.


Pick an electorate
For those of you who aren’t Dunedin locals, you get a bit of a choice as to which electorate you can vote in. This is a fairly important consideration, as different electorates have different things at stake. If, for example, you’re from Auckland and your home address is in Epsom, you may have an interest in voting for National so ACT doesn’t get the seat; conversely, if you hate everything about Epsom, you may want to vote in Dunedin North. Election day is during the semester, so have a think about where you’d like your electorate vote to go.


Get to know your MP
It’s surprisingly easy to have a chat with your local MPs, who often lurk around campus or nearby it, just waiting for young whippersnappers to ask them about their latest activity. Our local MP is David Clark, and he’ll be up for re-election. Also vying for the Dunedin North spot will be Metiria Turei of the Greens, and Michael Woodhouse of the National Party (I interviewed him before he appeared on Vote Chat; his interview is on page 42). If they’re not available in person, then they’ll definitely be reachable by email or Twitter, so there are no excuses for not getting to know at least one of them.


Decide who to vote for
This sounds a bit stupid, but it’s obviously the most important thing you need to decide. Stray away from your parents’ preferences, investigate which party looks best for you, and don’t feel obliged to vote for the electorate MP who belongs to your party. MMP means the composition of parliament is extremely diverse, and every vote counts. If there’s a particular issue you feel really strong about, investigate how the different parties feel. You may be surprised, and it may change the way you look at the election.
This article first appeared in Issue 12, 2014.
Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Carys Goodwin.