Polling Booths Close - Big Turnout In Auckland

POLLING BOOTHS CLOSE - HUGE TURNOUT

by Selwyn Manning

LAST TO VOTE: The last of today’s electors line up to vote at Kowhai Intermediate in Mt Albert Electorate.

The booth was the busiest today than anyone can remember. People had to queue over 30 minutes to cast their vote throughout most of the day. Polling only eased a little after 6pm.

Kowhai is of course where Labour leader Helen Clark votes and also the very school where former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon attended as a child.

The turnout appears high throughout Auckland and has been particularly noticeable in south Auckland polling booths and in low socio-economic pockets around Auckland. An assistant at Cafe Zest on Auckland’s Dominion Road told Scoop that she didn’t vote last time, but she has today. She said: “No one wants a change..... NOT!”

The jest at Zest seemed to sum up the mood around Auckland today. There were a lot of smiles unifying electors while waiting to vote. Mums and dads and kids and dogs [no cats] seemed to make a day of it. That is except for one outburst by one close-cropped, intense, woman who pitched at a voluntary polling assistant a strained: “I have no intention of sitting here [gestures toward your Scoop reporter] for thirty minutes!!!”

There was a brief interlude to the pride-filled gatherings’ grinnings. A silence ensued, only to be broken by one large Pacific Islands man who said: “Only one guess as to what party she will be voting for.” His chuckles became infectious. Tis true there's a meanstreak in a unified crowd.

Let the best get there first.

Selwyn Manning: Scoop [Auckland].

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