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[1]Vote NZ logo [2]an official site of the New Zealand Electoral
Commission

Kia ora

Thank you for your enquiry. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can, we
aim to respond to enquiries within two working days.

Your request has been assigned a tracking number, 129142.

In the meantime, you may find the information you need on [3]our website.

If you have any more questions or comments, please reply to this email.

Ngā mihi nui,
Electoral Commission
Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri

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Get in touch with us and we'll help you find what you're looking for.

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13. https://help.vote.nz/hc/requests/129142

Kia ora Tim

 

We are acknowledging your Official Information Request, received on
Tuesday 16 January 2024, requesting:

 

Regarding the instances of errors in the vote count and tabulation of the
NZ Parliamentary General Election of 2023 and noting the first report of
an error having occurred seems to be a NZ Herald news item of 7 November
2023
[[1]https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
in which the following appears:

"The Electoral Commission is undertaking 'a full check' of the country’s
voting results after a Herald investigation led to three booths being
found to have wrongly assigned hundreds of votes [...].
Quesne said the commission apologised that the data entry errors were not
picked up in the checks made before the official results were published.
'They should have been corrected and we regret that didn’t happen.' "

and noting a media release from the Electoral Commission dated 7 November
2023
[[2]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
makes no mention of the NZ Herald or any media alerting the Commission to
the errors and no explanation of how these errors were first identified by
the Commission and noting further that a media release from the Commission
dated 9 November 2023
[[3]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
states, inter alia:

"On Tuesday 7 November the Commission announced it had found three voting
places where there were data entry errors for the party vote results.
[...] 'We apologise for these errors. It is disappointing they were not
picked up in the quality assurance processes and falls short of our
expectations,' says Karl Le Quesne."

The question arises as to how the errors came to be known to the
Commission following the quality assurance processes as the media releases
imply the Commission itself found the errors without being alerted by
media (which seems on the face of it to be misleading).

Please provide:
1. Material touching on how and when the Commission first came to identify
the existence of the above errors, including any correspondence with media
and internal correspondence between 3 - 7 November 2023.
2. Material touching on the existence of similar errors in the 2020 and
2017 General Elections.

 

We will respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable within
the 20 working days.

 

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Electoral Commission | Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri 

PO Box 3220 | Level 10, 34-42 Manners Street | Wellington |
[4]vote.nz | [5]elections.nz

 

[6][IMG]

 

From: Tim Herewini

Date: Tue, Jan 16, 2024 at 3:59 pm

Dear Electoral Commission,

Regarding the instances of errors in the vote count and tabulation of the
NZ Parliamentary General Election of 2023 and noting the first report of
an error having occurred seems to be a NZ Herald news item of 7 November
2023
[[7]https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
in which the following appears:

"The Electoral Commission is undertaking 'a full check' of the country’s
voting results after a Herald investigation led to three booths being
found to have wrongly assigned hundreds of votes [...].
Quesne said the commission apologised that the data entry errors were not
picked up in the checks made before the official results were published.
'They should have been corrected and we regret that didn’t happen.' "

and noting a media release from the Electoral Commission dated 7 November
2023
[[8]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
makes no mention of the NZ Herald or any media alerting the Commission to
the errors and no explanation of how these errors were first identified by
the Commission and noting further that a media release from the Commission
dated 9 November 2023
[[9]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
states, inter alia:

"On Tuesday 7 November the Commission announced it had found three voting
places where there were data entry errors for the party vote results.
[...] 'We apologise for these errors. It is disappointing they were not
picked up in the quality assurance processes and falls short of our
expectations,' says Karl Le Quesne."

The question arises as to how the errors came to be known to the
Commission following the quality assurance processes as the media releases
imply the Commission itself found the errors without being alerted by
media (which seems on the face of it to be misleading).

Please provide:
1. Material touching on how and when the Commission first came to identify
the existence of the above errors, including any correspondence with media
and internal correspondence between 3 - 7 November 2023.
2. Material touching on the existence of similar errors in the 2020 and
2017 General Elections.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Herewini

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[10][FOI #25413 email]

Is [11][Electoral Commission request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to Electoral Commission? If so, please contact us
using this form:
[12]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[13]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 
Conversation ID: 27792089-b4b2-11ee-8950-4f9fe2e4b7ce
27792089-b4b2-11ee-8950-4f9fe2e4b7ce e211bcf

References

Visible links
1. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
2. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
3. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
4. https://vote.nz/
5. https://elections.nz/
6. https://vote.nz/
7. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
8. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
9. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
10. mailto:[FOI #25413 email]
11. mailto:[Electoral Commission request email]
12. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
13. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

Kia ora Tim

 

Please find attached the response and supporting documents to your
Official Information Act request.

 

In the interests of transparency, we release responses to Official
Information Act requests every three months. We will publish this response
with your personal details redacted on elections.nz.

 

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 request.
Information about how to do this is available at ombudsman.parliament.nz
or by phoning 0800 802 602.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Electoral Commission | Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri

PO Box 3220 | Level 10, 34 – 42 Manners Street | Wellington | 6140 | New
Zealand

Phone +64 4 495 0030 | Fax +64 4 495 0031 | [1]vote.nz | [2]elections.nz

 

From: OIA Enquiries <[email address]>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2024 10:47 AM
To: [FOI #25413 email]
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Vote count errors found in the
2023 General Election

 

Kia ora Tim

 

We are acknowledging your Official Information Request, received on
Tuesday 16 January 2024, requesting:

 

Regarding the instances of errors in the vote count and tabulation of the
NZ Parliamentary General Election of 2023 and noting the first report of
an error having occurred seems to be a NZ Herald news item of 7 November
2023
[[3]https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
in which the following appears:

"The Electoral Commission is undertaking 'a full check' of the country’s
voting results after a Herald investigation led to three booths being
found to have wrongly assigned hundreds of votes [...].
Quesne said the commission apologised that the data entry errors were not
picked up in the checks made before the official results were published.
'They should have been corrected and we regret that didn’t happen.' "

and noting a media release from the Electoral Commission dated 7 November
2023
[[4]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
makes no mention of the NZ Herald or any media alerting the Commission to
the errors and no explanation of how these errors were first identified by
the Commission and noting further that a media release from the Commission
dated 9 November 2023
[[5]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
states, inter alia:

"On Tuesday 7 November the Commission announced it had found three voting
places where there were data entry errors for the party vote results.
[...] 'We apologise for these errors. It is disappointing they were not
picked up in the quality assurance processes and falls short of our
expectations,' says Karl Le Quesne."

The question arises as to how the errors came to be known to the
Commission following the quality assurance processes as the media releases
imply the Commission itself found the errors without being alerted by
media (which seems on the face of it to be misleading).

Please provide:
1. Material touching on how and when the Commission first came to identify
the existence of the above errors, including any correspondence with media
and internal correspondence between 3 - 7 November 2023.
2. Material touching on the existence of similar errors in the 2020 and
2017 General Elections.

 

We will respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable within
the 20 working days.

 

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Electoral Commission | Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri 

PO Box 3220 | Level 10, 34-42 Manners Street | Wellington |
[6]vote.nz | [7]elections.nz

 

[8][IMG]

 

From: Tim Herewini

Date: Tue, Jan 16, 2024 at 3:59 pm

Dear Electoral Commission,

Regarding the instances of errors in the vote count and tabulation of the
NZ Parliamentary General Election of 2023 and noting the first report of
an error having occurred seems to be a NZ Herald news item of 7 November
2023
[[9]https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
in which the following appears:

"The Electoral Commission is undertaking 'a full check' of the country’s
voting results after a Herald investigation led to three booths being
found to have wrongly assigned hundreds of votes [...].
Quesne said the commission apologised that the data entry errors were not
picked up in the checks made before the official results were published.
'They should have been corrected and we regret that didn’t happen.' "

and noting a media release from the Electoral Commission dated 7 November
2023
[[10]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
makes no mention of the NZ Herald or any media alerting the Commission to
the errors and no explanation of how these errors were first identified by
the Commission and noting further that a media release from the Commission
dated 9 November 2023
[[11]https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
states, inter alia:

"On Tuesday 7 November the Commission announced it had found three voting
places where there were data entry errors for the party vote results.
[...] 'We apologise for these errors. It is disappointing they were not
picked up in the quality assurance processes and falls short of our
expectations,' says Karl Le Quesne."

The question arises as to how the errors came to be known to the
Commission following the quality assurance processes as the media releases
imply the Commission itself found the errors without being alerted by
media (which seems on the face of it to be misleading).

Please provide:
1. Material touching on how and when the Commission first came to identify
the existence of the above errors, including any correspondence with media
and internal correspondence between 3 - 7 November 2023.
2. Material touching on the existence of similar errors in the 2020 and
2017 General Elections.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Herewini

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[12][FOI #25413 email]

Is [13][Electoral Commission request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to Electoral Commission? If so, please contact us
using this form:
[14]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[15]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 
Conversation ID: 27792089-b4b2-11ee-8950-4f9fe2e4b7ce
27792089-b4b2-11ee-8950-4f9fe2e4b7ce e211bcf

References

Visible links
1. http://www.vote.nz/
2. https://elections.nz/
3. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
4. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
5. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
6. https://vote.nz/
7. https://elections.nz/
8. https://vote.nz/
9. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2...
10. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
11. https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2023...
12. mailto:[FOI #25413 email]
13. mailto:[Electoral Commission request email]
14. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
15. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers