Voter turnout

CAST your vote for those who can’t. There is considerable discussion about voter turnout. I believe that many people are unable to vote, and that their views need to be expressed.

Many of the homeless will not be able to vote. The standard letter explaining how to check the roll and how to enrol will never have reached them. It will have been sent to an address three years old, possibly returned to the electoral office or destroyed as junk mail. Even if the homeless want to vote, will they be able to supply the necessary information? They don’t have a home address and may not wish to share their circumstances with a strange official, possibly within earshot of other voters.

Then there are the people who committed suicide last year, many of them unable to access the level of care they needed because mental health was inadequately funded. It is remarkable that the present government did not have enough compassion to organise representation at the heartwrenching display of shoes on Parliament lawn.

Then there are the children who cannot access medical care because we are facing a shortage of GPs, who are waiting a long time for access to special help which will enable them to function better at schools. We need more counsellors before we can have the luxury of second language teachers.

Out in our communities are many people lacking either support or compassion from our present system. So please consider what you want New Zealand to become when you vote.

Lynne Hill

Mosgiel