2011 Referals to Police

Joshua Grainger made this Official Information Act request to Electoral Commission

The request was refused by Electoral Commission.

From: Joshua Grainger

7 May 2012

Dear Electoral Commission,

As noted on your website, you have referred a number of incidents
to police as breeches of rules during the 2011 election.

I would like to request under the Official Information Act, 1) the
letter(s) of complaint or how the Electoral Commission became aware
of an alleged breech, 2) a copy/picture/transcript (as appropriate)
of the alleged offending material, and 3) a copy of the Electoral
Commission decision for each referral referred to below:

a) The ACT on Campus ‘Not your typical party’ flyer, baseball cap
and t-shirt
b) TVNZ OneNews coverage before 7pm on 26 November 2011
c) The Radio Network election program for United Future on 25
October 2011
d) The five comments posted by members of the public on social
media on election day
e) An election advertisement on a billboard in Penrose, Auckland on
26 November 2011
f) Brendan Horan's newspaper advertisement in the Weekend Sun.
g) An email sent by the Maori Party to supporters (reported in a
press release on Dec 9)
h) John Creser: Distribution of election-related flyer on polling
day

I would also like to request the letter(s) of complaint or how the
Electoral Commission became aware of the individual who is alleged
to have voted using the identity of a friend (reported in a press
release on Dec 9).

I would prefer an electronic response, as it will be made available
to others by being posted publicly on FYI.org.nz. Feel free to
contact me if you want me to clarify my request.

Yours faithfully,

Joshua Grainger

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Joshua Grainger left an annotation ( 7 May 2012)

...The embarrasing moment in which you realized you misspelt "referrals" in the subject line of your OIA request.

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From: Kristina Temel
Electoral Commission

10 May 2012

Dear Mr Grainger,

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 of 7 May 2012 for:

1) the letter(s) of complaint or how the Electoral Commission became aware
of an alleged breach,
2) a copy/picture/transcript (as appropriate) of the alleged offending material, and 3) a copy of the Electoral Commission decision for each referral referred to below:

a) The ACT on Campus ‘Not your typical party’ flyer, baseball cap and t-shirt
b) TVNZ OneNews coverage before 7pm on 26 November 2011
c) The Radio Network election program for United Future on 25 October 2011
d) The five comments posted by members of the public on social media on election day
e) An election advertisement on a billboard in Penrose, Auckland on 26 November 2011
f) Brendan Horan's newspaper advertisement in the Weekend Sun.
g) An email sent by the Maori Party to supporters (reported in a press release on Dec 9)
h) John Creser: Distribution of election-related flyer on polling day
and
(i) letter(s) of complaint or how the Electoral Commission became aware of the individual who is alleged to have voted using the identity of a friend (reported in a press release on Dec 9).

Given that these matters are currently with the Police, the information requested is withheld under section 6(c) of the Official Information Act 1982 on the basis that the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of offences, and the right to a fair trial.

You have the right, pursuant to section 28(3) of the Official Information Act, to complain to an Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with my response to your request.

Yours sincerely

Kristina Temel
Electoral Commission

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Joshua Grainger left an annotation (10 May 2012)

Interesting that the Electoral Commission refused this request when they gave these exact things in response to a request for the PM Radio Hour complaint: http://fyi.org.nz/request/prime_minister....

Indeed, they proactively released their opinion for the PM Radio Hour breech on their website: http://www.elections.org.nz/study/news/r...

Think this is due a complaint to the Ombudsmen.

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Alex Harris left an annotation (10 May 2012)

Possibly someone complained to them about the release.

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John Creser left an annotation (31 July 2012)

Hi there, I'm most disapointed too, I've not heard squat from the Electoral Commission either, what does it take to get arrested in this town these days?
John Creser

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Electoral Commission only: