Dear Electoral Commission,

I would like to please request under the Official Information Act copies of any manuals ("personal instruction manuals" I believe they're called) or any equivalent training documents/documentation provided to issuing officers or counters on polling day for elections, going back to 1993, excluding 2011 (so 1993, 1996, 2002, 2005, and 2008).

I would also like to request any correspondence, reports or debriefs analysing the performance of these manuals/documentation. For example if it was found that something was missing from these manuals, or if any particular instructions were confusing to issuing officers or counters.

I have requested the 2011 manual previously and you were very helpful. Thank you for that.

Yours faithfully,
Joshua Grainger.

Dear Natalie,

That is very cool: I thought that the older manuals may have been lost. Pity about the 1996 manual being lost (I presume? It isn't being declined under s9 or s6 or anything?) though, given it was the first MMP election, so it was one I was particularly interested in.

May I ask instead of photocopying and posting the manuals, would it be possible to request that the manuals are scanned and emailed in a digital format? This would enable anyone who is looking for these files later to easily access them later. Given that scanning incurs less costs due to no materials being used, may I also ask if the Electoral Commission would consider stepping away from the Ministry of Justice charging guidelines?

If the cost is going to be the same however, I don't think I'll be able to afford the cost for all manuals, so would it be possible to get prices for just the 1993 and 1999 manuals?

May I also ask the progress upon the second part of my request?

Thank you very much for your time. It is much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Joshua Grainger