for Mt Albert By-Election on 25 February 2017

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1 Information booklet for Mt Albert By-Election on 25 February 2017 Letter to Blind Foundation members (page 1) Information about the By-Election (page 4) Telephone Dictation Voting (page 9) Adapted in 2017 by Accessible Format Production, Blind Foundation, Auckland, for the NZ Electoral Commission.

3 Mt Albert By-Election 25 February 2017: Letter to Blind Foundation members 25 January 2017 There is going to be a by-election in the general electorate of Mt Albert on Saturday 25 February The by-election is to select a new member of Parliament for the Mt Albert general electorate. Only those who are enrolled on the general roll in the Mt Albert electorate can vote in the by-election. Those enrolled on the Māori roll cannot vote in this by-election. Anyone who is correctly enrolled in the Mt Albert general electorate by Friday 24 February will be able to vote in the by-election. Voting in the Mt Albert By-Election Anyone enrolled in the Mt Albert electorate can vote at a voting place inside the electorate between 9.00am and 7.00pm on election day, Saturday 25 February. Vote before election day if it is easier. Advance voting places will be open from Monday 13 February. A list of advance voting places will be available at from or by calling from Thursday 2 February. 1

4 Anyone who needs help to read or mark their voting paper can ask a friend, family member or electoral official to help. Telephone dictation voting Anyone enrolled in the Mt Albert electorate who is blind, has low vision or a physical disability that prevents them from marking their ballot paper without assistance is eligible to vote by telephone dictation. Anyone who meets the eligibility criteria and would like to vote by telephone dictation needs to register before they vote. Registration is available from Wednesday 25 January by calling between 9.00am and 5.00pm weekdays. The last chance to register to vote by telephone dictation is 5.00pm, Thursday 23 February two days before election day. Anyone who hasn't registered by this time won't be able to vote by telephone dictation but can still vote at any advance voting place before election day or at any voting place on election day, Saturday 25 February. 2

5 More Information More information about the Mt Albert by-election and telephone dictation voting is available on the Electoral Commission's website by calling or the Blind Foundation's Telephone Information Service. Yours sincerely Alicia Wright Chief Electoral Officer 3

6 Mt Albert By-Election Get ready for the Mt Albert by-election on Saturday 25 February A by-election in the Mt Albert general electorate will be held on Saturday 25 February. The by-election is to select a new member of Parliament to represent the Mt Albert electorate. There is no party vote. If you are on the General electoral roll in the Mt Albert electorate you can vote in this by-election. If you re enrolled on the Māori roll you are not eligible to vote in this by-election. To enrol and vote in the Mt Albert by-election, you must: have lived within the Mt Albert electorate for more than one month be 18 years of age or older, and have lived in New Zealand for more than one year continuously at some time in your life, and be a New Zealand citizen, or be a permanent resident of New Zealand. Enrol by Wednesday 25 January and your EasyVote information pack will be sent to you in the mail from the start of advance voting. The pack includes your personal EasyVote card and all the information you need to vote. If you enrol later, you can still vote, but you won t get an 4

7 EasyVote card. You can enrol right up until the Friday before election day, but not on election day itself. Enrolling to vote Getting on the roll is easy. You can get an enrolment form online at by free texting 3676 or by calling Freephone The form will ask you for information about yourself. It is important that you fill it in correctly. If you are Māori and enrolling for the first time, you get to choose whether you want to be on the Māori or the General roll. If you enrol now and choose the Māori roll, you will be in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate and won t be able to vote in this by-election. If you enrol now and choose the General roll, and are in the Mt Albert electorate, you will be able to vote in this by-election. You can find out more about the choice to go on the Māori or the General roll at or by calling If you are concerned about your safety or that of your family if your name goes on the electoral roll, you can ask to go on the Unpublished Roll. You can find out more by calling If you need help to fill in your form, you can ask someone else to help you, or you can contact your local Registrar of Electors. 5

8 Voting from overseas If you are going to be overseas on election day, you can still vote. From Wednesday 8 February you can get your voting papers in one of the following ways: download voting papers from the Electoral Commission website apply for a postal vote from your Returning Officer vote in person at an overseas post. Contact details for the overseas posts are available by calling or going to Voting before election day If it s easier you can vote before election day. Advance voting places will be open from Monday 13 February. Remember to take your EasyVote card with you when you go to vote. You can still vote without it but it will take a little longer. A list of advance voting places will be available at or by calling from Thursday 2 February. If you are in a rest home or hospital, your Returning Officer will send someone to issue you with your vote. If you are unable to get to a voting place because of sickness, infirmity or disability you can seek help to vote. Contact details and more information are available at or Freephone

9 Voting on election day Voting places will be open inside the electorate between 9.00am and 7.00pm on election day, Saturday 25 February. If you have received an EasyVote card or a letter from the Electoral Commission, take this with you. You can vote without an EasyVote card or letter, but it will take longer. When you go to vote, give your EasyVote card to the issuing officer. If you don't have an EasyVote card, you will need to tell the issuing officer your full name and address. The issuing officer will ask you your name, give you your ballot paper, and show you where to go to vote. On your ballot paper, place a tick by the name of the candidate you would most like to represent the Mt Albert electorate. If you can t fill in the ballot paper yourself, you can get someone else to do it for you. You can ask any person, including a friend or family member, to help you to read the ballot paper or to mark your ballot paper if you need help to do so. However, it must be done under your direction. No one, not even a person with a power of attorney, can cast another person's vote for them. Telephone Dictation Voting Anyone who is enrolled to vote in the Mt Albert general electorate and is blind, has low vision or another physical disability that prevents them from marking their ballot 7

10 paper without assistance is eligible to vote by telephone dictation at the Mt Albert by-election. You must be registered to vote by telephone dictation by 5.00pm Thursday 23 February two days before election day. If you haven t registered by this time you won t be able to vote by telephone dictation but you can still vote at any advance voting place before election day or at any voting place on election day, Saturday 25 February. You can register from Wednesday 25 January by calling on weekdays from 9.00am to 5.00pm. 8

11 Telephone Dictation Voting for the Mt Albert By-Election Anyone who is enrolled to vote in the Mt Albert general electorate and is blind, has low vision or another physical disability that prevents them from marking their ballot paper without assistance is eligible to vote by telephone dictation at the Mt Albert by-election. Register for telephone dictation voting Even if you have registered for telephone dictation voting at a previous election, you will need to register again to vote using telephone dictation in this by-election. You can register from Wednesday 25 January by calling on weekdays from 9.00am to 5.00pm. You must be registered to vote by telephone dictation by 5.00pm, Thursday 23 February two days before election day. If you haven't registered by this time you won't be able to vote by telephone dictation but you can still vote at any advance voting place before election day or at any voting place on election day, Saturday 25 February. When you register, you will be asked to choose a secret question and answer that only you know and you will be given a personal registration number. You can choose from one of three secret questions: The name of your first pet; or 9

12 The name of the street you grew up in; or The name of the primary school you attended. Your personal registration number and secret question are used to confirm that you're registered for this service. It means that you won't need to give your name to the electoral official when you call back to vote. Please don't tell anyone your secret question or the answer to it until you call back to vote. Your registration number can be sent to you by mail, , text message or over the phone. You'll need to know your registration number and the answer to your secret question when you call back to vote. How to vote using telephone dictation Voting by telephone dictation opens Wednesday 8 February. You can call weekdays from 9.00am to 5.00pm. To vote, call and provide the electoral official with your registration number and the answer to your secret question. Do not give your name to the electoral official they won't know your identity and your vote is secret. The electoral official will read out the names of all the candidates standing in the Mt Albert by-election. They will mark your ballot paper according to your instructions. A second electoral official will confirm that the ballot paper has been marked according to your instructions. 10

13 In this by-election you have one vote only, for the candidate you want to be your local member of Parliament. This is different from a general election where you have two votes one for a party and the other for your local candidate. Your last chance to vote by telephone dictation is on election day, Saturday 25 February from 9.00am to 7.00pm. 11

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