National - FFS!

[fungus pudding]

I voted early to free up my weekend and to avoid all the pain in the ass social distancing crap that would have to be followed on election day, nothing to do with bias towards any party

Me too. Did my bit as usual - used my vote in the most effective way against the party I least want.

[BlackPeter]

I don't really understand early voting... why would you vote early, ever, regardless of your pre-election bias?

A hypothetical... let's say politician A from party B does something unconscionable, or is found to have done something unconscionable, relative to your political persuasion in the last week of electioneering? You've voted. Too late. You've drunk the cool-aid.

Why would anybody wait for the last second? Based on your post I assume you queue up at 6.59 pm election day and check your social media account beforehand to make sure you got all the latest news? Just imagine everybody would do that - pretty stupid, isn't it?

I vote based on past performance (and this is more than the last couple of days) and looking into the future. Which party has the best team? Which party has the (in my view) best policies to solve the big problems facing us? Which party shares my values?

If everybody is doing their homework that way, then they won't need to wait for the celestial inspiration in the polling boot on the last day, but they can make their decision already months or at least weeks ahead (when all the policies are announced), so why not get the voting done and avoid the rush and the infection risk?

PS: I did vote already last Saturday and I am neither affiliated with the Left nor with the Right. I pick always the party which I think is in the relevant situation the best for the country. I voted in the past at times for ACT and National and at times for Green.

[BlackPeter]

Looks like everybody accepting tomorrows election is sorted. More interesting: Michael Hooton predicts National will be defeated again in 2023:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...UDFKQGQKRBZ2U/ (paywalled)

Actually - I think he has a point. National ejected the political middle ground from their ranks and accumulated religious fanatics instead. Not good enough for a party which wants to represent the country (vs. a splitter group). If National does not manage to get rid of the "Christian Taliban", then they will stay for a long time in opposition. No chance for them to come back without supporting liberal ideas.

Adern is just more clever in that regard ... she is not accommodating the left-wing of her party in a way Colins is accomodating the religious right :

[Joshuatree]

Makes sense and The Greens sticking around an important partner there for next election too. Judith did receive a bit of a hospital pass which unfortunately for her hasn't lifted her party in the polls a legacy of the entitlement National still hold and that under Bridges no real plan , policies, direction were made. Judith says she will lead the party in opposition but i think for the wrong reason ,personal power. More destruction and bloodletting to come methinks until they renew, rebuild.

[ratkin]

Makes sense and The Greens sticking around an important partner there for next election too.

The greens can't go wrong, no matter how bad they are they will benefit from the climate change tailwinds. and they are only going to increase.

[tim23]

I voted early to free up my weekend and to avoid all the pain in the ass social distancing crap that would have to be followed on election day, nothing to do with bias towards any party

Gee - you must be so busy it takes under 5 minutes to vote!!

[tim23]

It seems the not many have learnt the story of the little red hen.

Tell us Mr Clever...

[Bjauck]

The greens can't go wrong, no matter how bad they are they will benefit from the climate change tailwinds. and they are only going to increase.

"Drill, Baby, Drill!" will change to "Greens, Comrade, Greens!"

[Bjauck]

It seems the not many have learnt the story of the little red hen.

Is that The Little Red hen that uses community resources to make food and then wants to keep it all for herself?

[iceman]

I'd like to remind people that today we are not supposed to do any electioneering, by NZ law. This was brought up on this website by the owner a couple of elections ago and I suggest we adhere to it today.
We live in a wonderful democracy people. Have a good weekend :-)