'Total bias against people in poorer areas': Concerns raised about polling booth disorganisation

As the election post-mortem rolls out, questions are being asked about the organisation of polling booths.

South Auckland community advocate Dave Letele is calling for an inquiry into the Electoral Commission after reports of booths running out of ballot papers, or people having to queue for hours.

“I took my son Tavita, who just turned 18 a week ago … I took him at about quarter-past nine, and they’d already run out of enrolment papers. Luckily, we’re motivated so we went around looking for where else there was voting papers.

“How can they run out of enrolment papers? How does this happen? The things that were happening were very basic that were going wrong - enrolment papers, ensuring you have enough ballot papers, those types of things are very simple to fix.”

Speaking to Levi Matautia-Morgan on 531pi’s Pacific Mornings, Letele says it’s an “absolute disgrace” after there were so many efforts to encourage Pacific and Māori communities to vote.

“I’ve only voted twice in my entire life. For a long time, I had this massive distrust for the system and thought ‘what’s the point?’

“For a lot of the people, they’re turning up there for the first time ever, there’s no voting papers or there’s a four hour wait.

“Once they turn up and it’s too difficult for them, they’re not going to come back. Imagine how hard it’s going to be to get those people next time?”

Letele says some were given the wrong papers, people were turned away for not having an easy vote card and Pacific people were asked for proof of citizenship.

“It’s total bias against people in poorer areas, predominantly Māori or Pasifika people."

Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni says they also had issues in West Auckland.

“We had queues of people that were lining up for 45 minutes to an hour. In some of the booths in Kelston they didn’t have enough tables, like at St Leonard’s School, which had only three voting tables, one for specials, and there were so many specials coming through that there was a backup.”

Both Letele and Sepuloni say questions about the capability of the Electoral Commission need to be asked.