It is with shock and disappointment that Hannah Tamaki discovered at midday today that there’s been a mistake on the ballot paper prohibiting a party vote for Vision New Zealand, for the Port Waikato region.

The mistake was found at midday yesterday by the local manager of a Polling Booth, who contacted the Electoral Commission to let them know of the significant error.

It is estimated that approximately 1,900 votes had already been cast in that electorate before the error was discovered. While we appreciate the Electoral Commissions speedy efforts to rectify the situation immediately, it leaves us with a sense of insecurity about the ballot papers across the country.

Hannah Tamaki said “How is this even possible, after all of our hard work, and the fact that we are a fledgling minor party, first time out of the blocks, that this could even happen to us? Even more concerning is the fact that it includes an area where I am well known by family and close friends, and we’ve done a lot of work in this entire Port Waikato area.”

Port Waikato includes Pukekohe, Waiuku, Pokeno, Tuakau, Clarks Beach, Port Waikato, Mercer, Maramarua and more.

“What a massive disappointment for a first-time party,” states Hannah.

“Vision New Zealand has been in the spotlight from inception. It’s disappointing that when you are trusting other people to do their job, they are letting the voting public down, and also disadvantaging us.”

Thankfully the leader from Vision New Zealand is very optimistic, and we’ll move forward regardless of these hurdles continually thrown at us.

“When you consider the machinery of the Electoral Commission and the machinery of a new minor party, how is it possible that this has happened?”

“I suppose other minor parties would want heads to roll, but I am a gracious person,” says Hannah.

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