July 9, 2023
The law requires papers to be destroyed a few months after the election â but thatâs for a good reason, and it doesnât make fraud easier. We get to the nitty gritty of why.
Some people claim ballot papers are destroyed after the election to hide fraud. They point to requirements elsewhere in law to keep records for seven years and ask why ballot papers donât need to be kept so long.
The law requires ballot papers to be kept for six months after the official count is complete and then destroyed. The official count can take some time after election day, so it actually takes a bit more than six months from the day before the ballot papers are destroyed. This gives plenty of time for legal challenges and investigations while also meeting the principle that voting is anonymous. The Electoral Act also requires that papers can’t be destroyed if they are part of an investigation or might be needed for an investigation (s189.3).
Making a fuss about ballot destruction without ever explaining why it happens is classic âjust asking questionsâ conspiracy rhetoric â taking a thing that has a reasonable explanation but deliberately not mentioning the explanation so as to imply nefarious forces are at work.
Disposing of ballots six months after balances need to protect the integrity of the election with the need to protect voter privacy. Six months is a pretty long time for candidates to ask for a recount or for people to come forward to complain. And interference with ballot papers that affects results should be pretty obvious well within that time.
The thing is, ballot papers are numbered so it is possible for investigators to trace who a paper was issued to. This allows fraudulent votes (like people who voted twice) to be traced and removed, and helps any possible investigation later.
But, that means it would be possible to see how people voted, which is not ok. No one, not your family or your boss or some incoming government that doesnât like you should be able to tell how you voted. And if it was possible to check how you voted, that would provide more of an incentive for bribery and intimidation. Thatâs why popular movements in the UK fought for and won the right to a secret ballot in the 19th century. Destroying the papers after the result is clear preserves the secrecy of the ballot. Itâs been law in New Zealand for over 100 years and we inherited it from the UK. Far from being a weak point, it’s an important part of our democracy that no one should ever be able to know how you voted.
The differences between New Zealand’s elections and the United States are vast. Some people in New Zealand are recycling America’s false “stolen election” conspiracy theories here when it just doesn’t make sense.
Co-governance between MÄori and the Crown has a long history in this country. So why has it been turned into an election issue for conspiracy theorist parties and an apocalyptic vision by an end-times preacher?
All of the policies demanded by parties seeking the “freedom movement” vote are already government policy, except stopping the vaccine rollout. So why are they calling for that and why do they want an “independent inquiry”?