Predict E(l)ection 2014 & win

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#1133128 21-Sep-2014 14:49

BarTender:
mattwnz: But wasn't voter turnout this year at 75% which is quite high, especially as the weather was terrible. This sounds a lot higher than in previous elections. I beleive the US voter turnout is int he 50-60% range.

See the previous page showing total population vs turnout was around 66% or so. So 91% were enrolled based on the 2013 census and of the 91% only 75% voted. http://www.elections.org.nz/research-statistics/enrolment-statistics-electorate

It's been on a downward direction for a while: http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?CountryCode=NZ

Total population though is irrelevant, as you have to meet certain criteria to be a voter. eg you can't be in prison and you have to be over 18 etc.

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#1133130 21-Sep-2014 14:55

The no votes are undecided voters as well as those that didn't bother didn't care. Both of my children decided not to vote because they didn't know who to vote for. I guided them as to how to go about voting but not who to vote for. In the end they didn't see the point in just making a random choice in the booth.
I completely disagree that people who didn't vote now have no right to complain about what happens from here on in. The clock is reset and starts now for the 2017 election. If they strongly agree or disagree with what happens next they will have the motivation to vote next time.

Might be more sobering for our politicians if there was a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper for both the party vote and the electorate vote.

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#1133132 21-Sep-2014 15:00

There were times during FPP that I did not vote as I simply did not like any of the candidates in the electorate. Now with the two votes one should always vote if physically able.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#1133160 21-Sep-2014 16:12

Dingbatt: The no votes are undecided voters as well as those that didn't bother didn't care. Both of my children decided not to vote because they didn't know who to vote for. I guided them as to how to go about voting but not who to vote for. In the end they didn't see the point in just making a random choice in the booth.
I completely disagree that people who didn't vote now have no right to complain about what happens from here on in. The clock is reset and starts now for the 2017 election. If they strongly agree or disagree with what happens next they will have the motivation to vote next time.

Might be more sobering for our politicians if there was a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper for both the party vote and the electorate vote.

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

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#1133164 21-Sep-2014 16:22

75% is still above the OECD average of 72% although I don't see any relevance to what happened last night or to democracy.

I believe that if people were concerned how the government was performing they would have turned out in droves as they have before and no doubt will again.

What I did find interesting was in some of the Labour strongholds where the Labour MP was returned that the party vote was mainly National, that speaks volumes.

edit: making sense

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#1133165 21-Sep-2014 16:23

Geektastic:

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

What fence? It's difficult to discuss the issue without knowing what assumption(s) you are making.

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#1133167 21-Sep-2014 16:35

Hammerer:
Geektastic:

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

What fence? It's difficult to discuss the issue without knowing what assumption(s) you are making.

Left or right. Fence in middle.

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#1133168 21-Sep-2014 16:36

Dingbatt: The no votes are undecided voters as well as those that didn't bother didn't care. Both of my children decided not to vote because they didn't know who to vote for. I guided them as to how to go about voting but not who to vote for. In the end they didn't see the point in just making a random choice in the booth.
I completely disagree that people who didn't vote now have no right to complain about what happens from here on in. The clock is reset and starts now for the 2017 election. If they strongly agree or disagree with what happens next they will have the motivation to vote next time.

Might be more sobering for our politicians if there was a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper for both the party vote and the electorate vote.

If people cannot be bothered to educate themselves on the issues that are going to affect them or cannot be bothered to vote then they deserve what they get. No use complaining this time around.

"None of the above" isn't an option in my book. No matter what happens, there is going to be a government chosen from what's on offer. You need to choose what you think is the best option. Otherwise you are likely to end up with an even worse option.

Or as I have said before go and form your own party to promote exactly what you want.

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#1133188 21-Sep-2014 17:53

Geektastic:
Dingbatt: The no votes are undecided voters as well as those that didn't bother didn't care. Both of my children decided not to vote because they didn't know who to vote for. I guided them as to how to go about voting but not who to vote for. In the end they didn't see the point in just making a random choice in the booth.
I completely disagree that people who didn't vote now have no right to complain about what happens from here on in. The clock is reset and starts now for the 2017 election. If they strongly agree or disagree with what happens next they will have the motivation to vote next time.

Might be more sobering for our politicians if there was a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper for both the party vote and the electorate vote.

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

The problem is that the media and the debates is more about personality than the actual policies. The fact that the media are now putting hte loss down to the labour leader is a case in point. It had nothing to do with the leader, they just had very unpopular policies which were out of touch with what the majority of NZers want. That mixed with their relationships with potential partners. The fact that the greens also don't mind working with National, when the greens are very left speaks droves. I was speaking to someone who said they were voting labour becasue they didn't want a capital gains tax to come in. They thought it was a National policy, until I told them it was a labour one, so people just don't know the policies.

mattwnz

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#1133189 21-Sep-2014 17:56

Geektastic:
Hammerer:
Geektastic:

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

What fence? It's difficult to discuss the issue without knowing what assumption(s) you are making.

Left or right. Fence in middle.

This National government is quite central though, nothing like National of the 70's - 90's which had big welfare cuts. The labour policies though were quite left wing and unpopular, and did nothing to help the housing problems IMO. Scrap GST on new buildings should have been their policy, which would benefit all young people wanting to build, unlike their housing policies which would only help a few.

mattwnz

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#1133190 21-Sep-2014 17:58

Hammerer:
Geektastic:

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

What fence? It's difficult to discuss the issue without knowing what assumption(s) you are making.

Personally I don't stick to a party, as no party deserves that, and parties run out of ideas and start doing weird things, like the last labour government buying back NZ rail. I stick to policies.

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#1133198 21-Sep-2014 18:20

mattwnz:
Hammerer:
Geektastic:

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

What fence? It's difficult to discuss the issue without knowing what assumption(s) you are making.

Personally I don't stick to a party, as no party deserves that, and parties run out of ideas and start doing weird things, like the last labour government buying back NZ rail. I stick to policies.

I'll consider any right of centre party but never anything heading left.

Hammerer

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#1133211 21-Sep-2014 18:58

Geektastic:
Hammerer:
Geektastic:

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

What fence? It's difficult to discuss the issue without knowing what assumption(s) you are making.

Left or right. Fence in middle.

Many people don't look at it that way. I don't. Many don't classify things using one continuum. Many don't even use continuums or dichotomies.

So what appears to be a simple question for you is a multi-faceted issue for many others. I'd also suggest that even the left-right mode of analysis requires the acknowledgement that there's probably more than one fence. The centrism that appears to be the dominant characteristic of NZ politics is too important to ignore. Likewise, the failure of Act to beat the 5% threshold suggests that there is another fence somewhere near there too. And so on.

turnin

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#1133212 21-Sep-2014 19:04

Hammerer:
Geektastic:
Hammerer:
Geektastic:

I still find it amazing that people do not know who to vote for.

I knew which side of the fence I was casting my vote on by the time I was 15 years old and have never wavered since.

What fence? It's difficult to discuss the issue without knowing what assumption(s) you are making.

Left or right. Fence in middle.

Many people don't look at it that way. I don't. Many don't classify things using one continuum. Many don't even use continuums or dichotomies.

So what appears to be a simple question for you is a multi-faceted issue for many others. I'd also suggest that even the left-right mode of analysis requires the acknowledgement that there's probably more than one fence. The centrism that appears to be the dominant characteristic of NZ politics is too important to ignore. Likewise, the failure of Act to beat the 5% threshold suggests that there is another fence somewhere near there too. And so on.

No they don't, it's a drastic and dangerous oversimplification to measure parties according to where they sit on the left right spectrum, it's a bit like taking a topic like Chemistry and suggesting it's all either alkaline or acidic. Much more to it than just one spectrum.

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#1133251 21-Sep-2014 20:47

Dingbatt: Might be more sobering for our politicians if there was a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper for both the party vote and the electorate vote.

You can simply not tick anything, or spoil your ballot as a protest. It's counted as an informal vote. As a protest it's only really effective if there is some sort of protest vote campaign. I've done this a couple of times for stupid referenda.

While many would consider this a "wasted" vote, it's better than not voting at all.

*edit* typo

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