271,369 advance votes cast nationwide
A CONSTANT stream of early voters filtering through voting booths in Dunedin since voting opened at the weekend is an indication of a national trend and may result in more people voting before election day than on it.
Advance voting began on Saturday and by the end of the day on Monday, 271,369 people nationwide had cast their vote.
A breakdown of voting so far in the southern electorates is not available.
Early voting has been increasingly popular in recent elections, accounting for 47% of votes at the last election, a number that was expected to rise to about 60% this year, partly driven by the threat of another lockdown.
Advanced voting place mobile manager Craig Dinnissen, who is also a senior sergeant, cast his early vote at the Otago Polytechnic voting station yesterday, saying it took pressure off voting day and was faster and easier.
There were also more opportunities for people to ‘‘happen’’ upon the booths and decide to get their vote in early, he said.
‘‘You just see the opportunity and think ‘why not?’’’
The booths were operating under Covid19 Alert Level 2 rules, meaning social distancing measures were in place and people were being asked to use the Covid19 tracing app and sanitiser before voting.
On Saturday 93,069 votes were cast in New Zealand. A further 68,519 people voted on Sunday.
On Monday, 109,781 people voted, compared with 39,570 on the third day of advance voting during the last election.
Dunedin registrar of electors Rachel Heller said five voting booths were opened across the city at the weekend.
That increased to eight on Monday.
By this Saturday, there would be 23 different locations around Dunedin to vote, she said.
‘‘It has been steady.
‘‘As you can see from the numbers on the [Electoral Commission] website, it’s been busy.’’ — Additional reporting The New Zealand