13 27 09 2023.pdf

27/09/2023– Situation Report Week 3
As at 12:30noon on 27/09/2023 prepared by Crispian

Distributed  All GEDT members
to
Key
Anusha Guler and Crispian

Contacts
Previous
3 ELT SITREPS 26092023 FINAL.docx
ELT SITREP
Overview
Summary of the current event
•  Queenstown and Southland state of emergency lifted (23/09)
•  Severe weather in Gisborne and Bay of Plenty. Gisborne is currently (0907) unaffected by the weather.
There has been some slipping at Otoko southeast of Matawai on SH2. This is a main connection between
Whakatane and Gisborne. The road is not shut presently. We will maintain a watch on this road as it is the
main supply run from Gisborne. No flooding in Bay of Plenty though heavy rain in Tauranga.
•  Rain is falling heavily in Coromandel but there is no flooding and no road closures.
•  Rain in Hawkes Bay is moderate, but not approaching any critical or warning levels. It is forecast to lighten
this afternoon.
•  Most likely there will be a protest around Parliament on Thursday 28 September. The Incident
Management team (IMT) was stood up at 9am today.
•  All Government cross-agencies working group have been stood up.
•  Traffic management plans for road closure and bus stops arrangements to prepare for the protest.
•  Lucy emailed out the National Incident Management Team Response plan – IMT Roles and
Responsibilities.
Key Dates
Days to start of overseas voting   0 day
Days to advance voting
5 days
Days to election day

17 days
Update on
When: Thursday, 28 September and Saturday, 30 September
Wellington  Where:  Civic Square and Parliament
protesters   Thursday 28 September, protestors will gather in Civic Square at approximately 10am, before heading along
Mercer Street, Willis Street and Lambton Quay as they make their way to Parliament. Some cars may be
included as part of the convoy but will need to go another route – likely up towards Victoria Street, Dixon and
Willis Street.
Saturday 30 September, protesters will gather in Te Aro Park at approximately 10am, before heading along
Manners Street, Willis Street and Lambton Quay as they make their way to Parliament.
When are the roads closed: 11.59pm Tuesday to 12.01 on Friday
•  Harris Street (Victoria Street end)
•  Hill Street closed between Molesworth/Aitken Streets and Guildford Terrace
•  Kate Sheppard Place (Molesworth Street end)
•  Lambton Quay / Bowen Street intersection and Bunny Street near the bus depot restricted to buses only.
Bus stops:
From Wednesday 27 September buses can access the cordoned off area into Wellington Station, but detours
are in effect for bus routes 14, 22, 81, and 84 due to road closures, and will remain in place until roads re-
open.
All stops on Molesworth Street are closed. Routes 14, 81, and 84 towards Wilton and Lower Hutt will travel via
Bowen Street, and Tinakori Road. The nearest bus stop is Lambton Quay North – Stop D. CBD-bound buses are
not affected.
Route 22 will travel via a detour to Wellington Station but serve all usual bus stops. Route 22 to Mairangi or
Johnsonville is not affected.

IMT Update:
•  IMT was stood up on 26 September.
•  Generic comms on staff safety was sent out to EC All Staff yesterday, followed by a specific comms on
disruptions in Wellington to the National Office staff this morning. There is no indication that the
Commission is targeted.
•  Some contingencies already planned by the Aitken Street HQs, including moving the trainings to the
Rongotai HQ tomorrow.
•  The Aitken Street HQ will remain open. The Regional Manager and Electorate Managers will manage local
activities and movements directly.
•  Police assessment – there’s no intent to occupy Parliament, anticipate 1000 people. Some ferry services
were cancelled due to weather conditions.
•  IMT will continue monitoring the situation and will meet again at 4pm today.
Voting
GENERAL UPDATE
Services
Overseas Operations team as of 12:30pm today
•  Over 2200 voting papers were downloaded and 232 uploaded
•  Sixteen voters had completed their secret telephone dictation vote.
•  Deliveries have now arrived at overseas voting places (OVPs) in Manila, Philippines and Nukualofa, Tonga.
•  Ballot papers are now available via Tupu for the remaining delivery delay affected OVPs to download
•  As per the agreed action plan, the Ballot Papers are now available via Tupu for the remaining delivery
delay affected OVPs to download.
Other progress:
•  EasyVote: All of priority groups 1, 2 and 3 have been produced and lodged for delivery.
•  Post-election readiness testing is underway and will conclude on Friday
•  All of the second tranche of ballot papers have been printed and are currently being delivered.
Ballot papers – Te Tai Tonga
•  Issues have been identified with the ballot papers for at least two Māori electorates, where the unique
number printed on the top right-hand corner of each ballot paper is showing through on the reverse side
of some ballot papers.
•  Based on the checking undertaken, it is assumed that this issue is occurring across all Māori electorates.
•  Members of the Operations Group have met to consider the impact of the issue and potential
remediations.  It was noted the remediation of reprinting all Māori electorate ballot papers could
significantly impact the field’s ability to provide services to Māori voters, particularly as the logistics that
ensure ballot papers are ready for voting on Monday are well underway (particularly for large, rural
electorates). Removing and replacing ballot paper pads at this late stage would create an operational
impact that would also risk impacting voters.
AGREED ACTIONS:
•  The VS field will proceed with using the current printed Māori electorate ballot paper pads
•  The VS Team will provide guidance to Electorate Managers on how to respond to this issue, should it be
identified by a voter in a voting place
Ballot papers – Christchurch Central
•  A number of ballot paper pads for Christchurch Central had perforation issues, which could create
difficulties for vote issuing staff when issuing the papers.
•  These are being reprinted, noting that Christchurch Central still has a sufficient number of pads to service
voting places from Monday.
ACTION:
•  Christchurch-based printer ( 6(a) ) is reprinting 100 pads.
IT
NEW ISSUE
•  Cert NZ (Computer Emergency Response Team) critical vulnerability - we have identified a new

global critical vulnerability called “Webp” that highlights potential security risks to some of our
systems.  We are conducting an impact assessment with our service deliver partners.
GENERAL UPDATE
•  Connectivity Issue 25/9 - No further service issues, Incident report suggests issues were triggered by
Daylight savings changes at the weekend, but still to be 100% confirmed. Meeting supplier to discuss
next steps 28/9.
•  Field Users Mobile Connectivity – All additional Spark SIM cards received and in the process of being
delivered to sites.  Bulk activation process agreed and in place with Spark.
•  Interactive Voice Recognition Call Quality Issues – Acceptance testing scheduled for Thursday
1:30pm.
•  Enrolment Centralised Processing Wi-Fi issues in Upper Hutt – Continuing to monitor call quality and
call transfer issues.  Higher spec Contact Centre headsets being arranged to mitigate the noise
pollution concerns at site in Upper Hutt.
Comms &
GENERAL UPDATE:
Education
Advertising
•  ‘Voting starts soon’ messaging running since Sunday. Advertising is now upweighted across all channels,
including TV.
Media
•  Yesterday’s media release about voting starting generated a number of stories and requests for interviews.
•  Chief Electoral Officer interviewed by TVNZ and Newstalk ZB; interview with Q&A this morning.
•  Themes of queries - stats and information on voting, I voted stickers, escalation channels to Twitter.
•  Receiving lots of requests from media to film people voting.
Social media /web
•  Links to Upload and Download voting papers added to overseas pages on vote.nz just after midnight last
night.
•  Overseas voting posted across all social channels this morning.
•  Themes - questions about overseas voting; questions around services to deaf voters and use of Relay
service. NZ Loyal continues to elicit comments.
Daily metrics
•  22 media enquiries
•  91 enquiries and comments on social media
•  37,698 visitors to vote.nz
Customer
GENERAL UPDATE:
Services
•  Since yesterday, the team had 432 tickets created, received 53 phone calls and made 6 outbound calls.
86% of tickets were resolved in one touch. Telnet received 3,842 calls and 548 emails over last 7 days.  
•  The top enquiry remained to be enrolment related, followed by EasyVote and Where & When can I vote
questions.  
•  Currently there are 8 complaints on hand across the business units. No significant issues or risks to raise.
•  The team is facilitating the work with IT and Overseas team to divert all Download Voting Paper emails
from Telnet to the Overseas team, not to the Enrolment.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
•  The team continues to work with Telnet and IT to investigate / monitor the 3-way conversations, static
sound and Zendesk audio quality issues.
Strategic
INSIGHTS
Engagement  •  Themes around enrolment support this week, some concerns about ease of access and mistrust of online
and
tools.
Partnership
•  Engagement kaimahi in Wellington have put in place steps to maintain personal safety in light of the
protests and their planned hui.
People &
GENERAL UPDATE:

MetService Thursday
Extended
North Island: Showers for most, but only isolated showers in the east. Possible thunderstorms north of
Forecast 28-
Waikato. South Island: Mainly fine in the north. Elsewhere, cloudy periods a few showers spreading from the
30
south.
September
Friday
North Island: Cloudy periods with showers in the west and north. Mainly fine in the east, with the odd shower.
South Island: Isolated showers in the east. Periods of rain elsewhere, but widespread and possibly heavy in the
west.
Saturday
North Island: Rain or showers for most, possibly heavy about central North Island. South Island: Showers for
most.
Chatham Islands
Showers and westerlies. Showers becoming isolated later on Saturday.

Enrolment Dashboard
Customer Enquiries and Complaints Dashboard

27/09/2023– ELT Situation Report Week 3
As at 1.48pm on 27/09/2023 prepared by Crispian
approved by Anusha Guler
Distributed  ELT members
to
Key
Anusha Guler and Crispian

Contacts
Previous
3 ELT SITREPS 26092023 FINAL.docx
ELT SITREP
Overview
Summary of the current event
•  Queenstown and Southland state of emergency lifted (23/09)
•  Severe weather in Gisborne and Bay of Plenty. Gisborne is currently (0907) unaffected by the weather.
There has been some slipping at Otoko southeast of Matawai on SH2. This is a main connection between
Whakatane and Gisborne. The road is not shut presently. We will maintain a watch on this road as it is the
main supply run from Gisborne. No flooding in Bay of Plenty though heavy rain in Tauranga.
•  Rain is falling heavily in Coromandel but there is no flooding and no road closures.
•  Rain in Hawkes Bay is moderate, but not approaching any critical or warning levels. It is forecast to lighten
this afternoon.
•  Most likely there will be a protest around Parliament on Thursday 28 September. The Incident
Management team (IMT) was stood up at 9am today.
•  All Government cross-agencies working group have been stood up.
•  Traffic management plans for road closure and bus stops arrangements to prepare for the protest.
•  Lucy emailed out the National Incident Management Team Response plan – IMT Roles and
Responsibilities.
•  Overseas and dictation voting starts today (27/09)
Key Dates
Days to start of overseas voting   0 day
Days to advance voting
5 days
Days to election day

17 days
Update on
When: Thursday, 28 September and Saturday, 30 September
Wellington  Where:  Civic Square and Parliament
protesters   Thursday 28 September, protestors will gather in Civic Square at approximately 10am, before heading along
Mercer Street, Willis Street and Lambton Quay as they make their way to Parliament. Some cars may be
included as part of the convoy but will need to go another route – likely up towards Victoria Street, Dixon and
Willis Street.
Saturday 30 September, protesters will gather in Te Aro Park at approximately 10am, before heading along
Manners Street, Willis Street and Lambton Quay as they make their way to Parliament.
When are the roads closed: 11.59pm Tuesday to 12.01 on Friday
•  Harris Street (Victoria Street end)
•  Hill Street closed between Molesworth/Aitken Streets and Guildford Terrace
•  Kate Sheppard Place (Molesworth Street end)
•  Lambton Quay / Bowen Street intersection and Bunny Street near the bus depot restricted to buses only.
Bus stops:
From Wednesday 27 September buses can access the cordoned off area into Wellington Station, but detours
are in effect for bus routes 14, 22, 81, and 84 due to road closures, and will remain in place until roads re-
open.
All stops on Molesworth Street are closed. Routes 14, 81, and 84 towards Wilton and Lower Hutt will travel via
Bowen Street, and Tinakori Road. The nearest bus stop is Lambton Quay North – Stop D. CBD-bound buses are
not affected.
Route 22 will travel via a detour to Wellington Station but serve all usual bus stops. Route 22 to Mairangi or

Johnsonville is not affected.

Incident Management Team (IMT) Update:
•  IMT was stood up on 26 September.
•  Generic communication on staff safety was sent out to EC All Staff yesterday, followed by a specific
comms on disruptions in Wellington to the National Office staff this morning. There is no indication that
the Commission is targeted.
•  Some contingencies already planned by the Aitken Street Headquarters (HQs), including moving the
trainings to the Rongotai HQ tomorrow.
•  The Aitken Street HQ will remain open. The Regional Manager and Electorate Managers will manage local
activities and movements directly.
•  Police assessment – there’s no intent to occupy Parliament, anticipate 1000 people. Some ferry services
were cancelled due to weather conditions.
•  IMT will continue monitoring the situation and will meet again at 4pm today.
Voting
GENERAL UPDATE
Services
Overseas Operations team as of 12:30pm today
•  Over 2200 voting papers were downloaded and 232 uploaded
•  Sixteen voters had completed their secret telephone dictation vote.
•  Deliveries have arrived at overseas voting places (OVPs) in Manila, Philippines and Nukualofa, Tonga.
•  Ballot papers are now available via Tupu for the remaining delivery delay affected OVPs to download
Other progress:
•  EasyVote: All of priority groups 1, 2 and 3 have been produced and lodged for delivery.
•  Post-election readiness testing is underway and will conclude on Friday
•  All of the second tranche of ballot papers and scannable rolls have been printed and are currently being
delivered.
•  The EMNOS emails were activated as of today. When an overseas voter enrols or updates, MIKE will
automatically send them an email (called the EMNOS) advising them that they can now download their
voting papers.
UPDATE ON ISSUES
Ballot papers – Te Tai Tonga
•  Identified issues with the ballot papers for at least two Māori electorates, where the unique number
printed on the top right-hand corner of each ballot paper is showing through on the reverse side of the
ballot paper.
•  This issue is occurring only for the Māori electorates.
•  Considered the impact of the issue and potential remediations:
o  Noted the remediation of reprinting all Māori electorate ballot papers could significantly impact the
field’s ability to provide services to Māori voters, particularly as the logistics that ensure ballot papers
are ready for voting on Monday are well underway (particularly for large, rural electorates).
o  Removing and replacing ballot paper pads at this late stage would create an operational impact that
would also risk impacting voters.
AGREED ACTIONS:
•  The Voting Services (VS) field will proceed with using the current printed Māori electorate ballot paper
pads
•  The VS Team will provide guidance to Electorate Managers on how to respond to this issue, should it be
identified by a voter in a voting place.
Ballot papers – Christchurch Central
•  Identified another issue in a number of ballot paper pads for Christchurch Central electorate -the
perforation of the ballot papers, which could create difficulties for vote issuing staff when issuing the
papers.  Christchurch Central still has a sufficient number of pads to service voting places from Monday.

ACTION:
•  Christchurch printer is reprinting 100 pads.
IT
GENERAL UPDATE
•  Connectivity Issue 25/9 - No further service issues, Incident report received 26/9 working with supplier to
confirm mitigation plans.
•  Field Users Mobile Connectivity – First 100 Spark SIM Card received and being despatched, second batch
due today.  Working with Spark to expedite activation of the SIM cards.
•  Interactive Voice Recognition Call Quality Issues – Further testing scheduled for Thursday this week as
part of VS (Voting Services) readiness test.
•  Enrolment Centralised Processing Wi-Fi issues in Upper Hutt – Additional access point has been installed
to enhance Wi-Fi, expect to improve connectivity and call quality for users.
Comms &
GENERAL UPDATE:
Education
Advertising
•  ‘Voting starts soon’ messaging running since Sunday. Advertising is now upweighted across all channels,
including TV.
Media
•  Yesterday’s media release about voting starting generated a number of stories and requests for interviews.
•  Chief Electoral Officer interviewed by TVNZ and Newstalk ZB; interview with Q&A this morning.
•  Themes of queries - stats and information on voting, I voted stickers, escalation channels to Twitter.
•  Receiving lots of requests from media to film people voting.
Social media /web
•  Links to Upload and Download voting papers added to overseas pages on vote.nz just after midnight last
night.
•  Overseas voting posted across all social channels this morning.
•  Themes - questions about overseas voting; questions around services to deaf voters and use of Relay
service. NZ Loyal continues to elicit comments.
Daily metrics
•  22 media enquiries
•  91 enquiries and comments on social media
•  37,698 visitors to vote.nz
Customer
GENERAL UPDATE:
Services
•  Since yesterday, the team had 432 tickets created, received 53 phone calls and made 6 outbound calls.
86% of tickets were resolved in one touch. Telnet received 3,842 calls and 548 emails over last 7 days.  
•  The top enquiry remains to be enrolment related, followed by EasyVote and Where & When can I vote
questions.  
•  Currently there are 8 complaints on hand across the business units.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
•  The team continues to work with Telnet and IT to investigate / monitor the 3-way conversations, static
sound and Zendesk audio quality issues.
Strategic
INSIGHTS
Engagement  •  Themes around enrolment support this week, some concerns about ease of access and mistrust of online
and
tools.
Partnership
•  Engagement kaimahi in Wellington have put in place steps to maintain personal safety considering the
protests and their planned hui.
•  SEP team will be engaging at the kindergarten teachers conference in Wellington tomorrow.
People &
GENERAL UPDATE:
Culture
Recruitment