New polling booth at Al Huda Mosque
IT is hoped a new polling booth at Dunedin’s mosque will help refugees feel comfortable voting for the first time.
Advance voting starts today and runs until election day, October 17.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to vote at nearly 450 polling booths over the next two weeks.
One of those booths will, for the first time, be at the Al Huda Mosque.
It will be open from 11am to 4.30pm for the next two Fridays, so people can vote when they head along to Friday prayers.
Otago Muslim Association deputy chairman Steve Johnston said anyone could vote at the mosque.
‘‘It’s pretty exciting,’’ he said. ‘‘It makes it easier for members of our community to feel involved in the process. Hopefully it will put them at ease a bit.’’
Association president Dr Rizwan Mohammed said that was
particularly important for former refugees, who might be voting for the first time.
‘‘It’s good for them to know their voice will make a change, their voice will decide who the next government will be, and that’s important for them to know.’’
Chief electoral officer Alicia Wright said the popularity of advance voting had been rising steadily – accounting for 47% of all votes nationwide in 2017 – and could reach as much as 60% this time round.
“Voting places can be found as far north as Te Hapua School near Cape Reinga to the Stewart Island Community Centre in the far south.’’
She encouraged people to ‘‘vote early and vote local’’, as it could minimise election day queues and therefore the risk of Covid19.
“We’ll still be running the election as though the country were at Alert Level 2, so there will be physical distancing, use of hand sanitiser, voluntary contact tracing, singleuse pens to mark voting papers, and PPE on hand for staff in case it’s needed.”
About 400,000 eligible voters had yet to enrol, and they could do so — and vote — at any time up to and including election day.
Arrangements were in place for people in hospitals, resthomes, remand centres, prisons, managed isolation or quarantine facilities and overseas to cast their vote.