Posts by izogi
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
Could you cast an invalid vote?
I probably could have, but when I checked out the electoral law (as far as I was able to), I couldn’t find any specific info to say it was even legal for me to rank fewer than the 29 candidates on the presented list, let alone spoil my voting paper. So I gave them what they seemed to be demanding of me. It felt a bit silly, though.
It's no wonder so many people apparently just rank other candidates in the way that their favourite candidate tells them to.
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
Yes to all the above – though the Asian student population would presumably mostly be here on student visas and therefore not be eligible to vote
It's probably true in this case, but I like the way that the Electoral Act is quite flexible for whom it considers a permenent resident with voting eligibility. Basically anyone who's not required to leave at a specific time unless they're not in NZ lawfully to begin with, and non-specifically inclusive of Australians in NZ for more than a year as they're not required to leave within a specified time.
I have some sympathy on the non-voting side for people who don't feel they relate to NZ, though, whether it's transience or other reasons. When I was in Australia for 2.5 years, it just seemed wrong being pounced on and forced to vote in a place which I didn't think I understood well nor had a big stake in (I have dual citizenship through inheritance). I permanently left Australia about a week before their Federal election and so only had to vote in a single local body election in the end. I really did try to understand the local issues and 29 candidates for the municipal rectangle of suburbia where I spent most of my time asleep, but in the end I still ended up ranking the 29 candidates with a 1,2,3 donkey vote from top to bottom. It seemed the fairest thing to do. I think it would have been even more fair not to have voted at all, but that would have been illegal.
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
Also, in case anyone else is as interested in these things, StatsNZ have provided s fascinating summary of the reasons non-voters gave for not voting
On the not-being-enrolled side, has anyone seen any research or reports about whether the prospect of being called up for jury service has any effect?
I'd guess it's probably less significant than general apathy and other reasons, but I've yet to see it referred to.
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to tussock,
The people who stayed home last election because they thought National would win could’ve put Labour into office quite comfortably.
I saw this picture doing the social media rounds yesterday. Apologies if everyone’s already seen it.
I’m not certain of the data source or its reliability. Even if I maximise possible voters (3,233,492) by including the estimated unregistered people of voting age and minimise counted votes by only including valid party votes (2,237,464), I can still only get the non-voters up to 30.8% rather than 34%, but the gist of the chart still tells a story.
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Thanks, Hilary. That was a nice contrast to reading Ian Mackenzie's scaremongering this morning, very specifically referring to Mike Joy as someone who farmers should fear as some kind of irrational environmental communist, or something like that.
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Alfie,
Let’s hope it’s not a fizzer.
I sort-of hope it is a fizzer.
Not because I’m partial towards the current government or JK (I’m not), but if there’s something seriously wrong with NZ’s surveillance as KDC is hinting at, which we don’t already know about, then the NZ public should have more time to absorb it and consider implications than 5 days before an election. If he knows stuff then he should just say it, IMHO, instead of getting so theatrical and vendettive.
To me this attitude of his is another indication that KDC has probably had nothing to do with @whaledump or Nicky Hager’s work, as the PM’s office likes to broadcast. If he’d had all that stuff, going by his attitude, he almost certainly would have been dropping hints week after week, and released it at the same silly time.
given the public’s lack of interest in NZ’s biggest political scandal to date, I’m not holding my breath.
Same. I guess you can never be sure until it happens, but I’m not convinced the usual suspects really care about spying and mass surveillance revelations, even if I personally think it’s important. We’ve already learned about heaps of stuff in this area and it’s apparently made little difference to how people (or at least supporters) actually feel about the government and vote. At most this will probably help to polarise the electorate more than it already is.
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Hard News: Privacy and the Public Interest, in reply to tussock,
It was directly linked on the front page until early voting came up.
Excellent, thanks. That's exactly what I was looking for.
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Hard News: Privacy and the Public Interest, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Sometimes I even question if ICT is even the right career path for me, if it’s effectively shut out to trainees.
I don't think it's shut out to trainees. If you're straight out of a training course, companies like Xero or Datacom or Intergen (just a few I can think of) often like to slurp up graduates, but whether that's for you is a matter for you to decide. But good luck figuring out what you want to do. I had a thing about 10 years ago, thinking I might enjoy some kind of technical documentation job instead of coding, which over time has become much more about software engineering processes than just writing code. It took me an interview at the Defence Force (ugh) to realise I really didn't want to go down that path, both for the type of work and for that particular workplace. After that interview they didn't want me and I definitely didn't want to work there. :) I'm not totally sure where I'll be in 10 years, but right now I still like writing code.
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to simon g,
Person not running for office or holding any relevant position, lashes out to defend her sister. Public interest: zero.
And yet it’s been popular enough for Stuff to continue milking it, with this “top comments on the Judith Collins compared with Diana story” story. And yes, there’s another comment section below.
Do Stuff writers get incentives for page loads?
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to chinashop,
And if you’re trying not to rock an already unsteady boat, the last thing you want to hear is that the hull is rotten.
Uhuh. What’s the rowing equivalent of “Don’t change the horses mid-stream!”? Every time I see that ad I want to scream it out.
Also, it might be rotten but it also doesn’t help that the rower in position number 5 has been working away on the hull with a jackhammer, before finally being pushed overboard.