8 December 2020
Dianne Landy
[FYI request #14093 email]
Dear Dianne,
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT REQUEST 2020/50
Thank you for your request of [7 November 2020] under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act)
regarding documents relating to the cannabis referendum. Specifically, you have asked for:
1) The number of votes in the Cannabis Referendum that have been rendered invalid due to
clerical errors
2) How many voters have received letters informing them that their vote in the Cannabis
Referendum was null and void, due to clerical errors?
Responses to your questions are set out below.
For the referendums, in accordance with section 23 of the Referendum Frameworks Act 2019, votes
were counted as:
• valid votes cast for each of the options for each question in the referendum; and
• informal votes for each of the options for each question in the referendum
At the 2020 general election, a total of 2,908,071 referendum votes were counted. The national level
breakdown of the results are as follows:
End of Life Choice
Cannabis
Total Votes
Yes
No
Informal
Yes
No
Informal
Ordinary Votes
Referendum
1,574,789
816,476
25,092
1,114,579
1,282,529
19,249
2,416,357
Totals
Special Votes
Referendums
318,501
162,603
10,610
292,394
192,106
7,214
491,714
Totals
Included in these counts were informal votes. Votes wil be set aside when a voter does not clearly
indicate their intention for which the voter desired to vote. This may include voters who have not
marked their voting paper, or marked their voting paper in such a way their intention is unclear.
Of the referendum ordinary votes cast, all were counted, and none were disallowed.
Of all referendum special votes cast, 12,790 were disallowed and these votes were not counted for
the official results. The reasons for special votes being disallowed and the numbers disallowed for
each reason for each electorate are given o
n electionresults.govt.nz here:
https://electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2020/statistics/sdv-disallowed.html.
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.vote.nz | www.elections.nz
The Electoral Commission does not have a record of the number of invalid cannabis referendum
votes due to clerical errors.
It is not the Electoral Commission’s operating procedure to write to any voters to inform them their
vote in the cannabis referendum was not counted due to a clerical error.
I trust this information answers your request.
You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act to make a complaint to the Ombudsman if you are
not satisfied with the response to your requests.
Graeme Astle
National Manager Voting Services
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