27 13 10 2023.pdf

13/10/2023– Situation Report ELECTION Week 5
As at 12.21pm on 13/10/2023 prepared by Crispian

Distributed  All GEDT members
to
Key
Anusha Guler and Crispian

Contacts
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3 ELT Standup SITREPS 5 12102023 - FINAL.docx
ELT SITREP
Overview
Summary of the current event
•  Final week of election
•  Voting for Port Waikato electorate – party votes carry on, electorate votes will not be counted
•  Prime Minister selected Saturday, 25 November as the date for a by-election
•  Official results declared Wednesday 6 December
•  Advance voting starts Monday 13 November
•  Overseas voting starts Wednesday 8 November
•  Candidate nominations to be received by midday Friday, 20 October
•  By-election Writ Day will be Monday, 16 October
•  Election Day preparedness
•  Stood up a separate team to manage the by-election
•  Election Day preparedness.
•  Orange heavy rain warning for Westland and Headwaters of the Canterbury Lakes and River’s south of
Arthur’s Pass for Saturday  - Current forecasts remain below an emergency threshold
•  Several pro-Palestine solidarity gatherings or marches are scheduled across the country on Saturday
Key Dates
Days to election day – 1 day
Voting
GENERAL UPDATE
Services
Overseas Operations
•  Ten Overseas Voting Places now closed.
•  Overseas Votes Issued now 82,618 and Overseas Votes Received now 53,609.
•  Expecting a significant increase in uploads Friday and Saturday as the trend is very similar to GE2020.
•  More data here:- Overseas, Dictation, and Remote Voting: Overseas, Dictation, Remote, eLearn - Tableau
Cloud
•  No issues to report.

Auckland North Region
•
Busy everywhere today, increasing Election Day staffing at our busy sites.
•
The Albany Mall has taken over 15,500 votes with two days to go. Concerns about queues tomorrow.
•
The Whangaruru School will close tomorrow due to staff’s reluctance to work there.
Auckland South Region
•
Cleaner found person in Howick Library after close of voting, the cupboard holding the materials was
found to be unlocked but all materials have been accounted for, no interference detected.
•
Voter collapsed in Royal Oak voting place.  Temporary closed voting place until ambulance arrives.
•
Port Waikato has four voting places with two-people only.  Not expected to have high volumes of votes.
•
A number of staff are dropping out, light on back-up staff.
•
COVID-19 case in Pakuranga HQ.
Central North Island Region
•
Nothing significant to report.
•
NO contingency workforce on its way to East Coast. Contingency plan in place to move staff around the
electorate if needed.  Concerned with voting place manager shortfalls.
•
Electorates are reporting staff withdrawals, are using on-call staff, working between electorates to fill

vacnacies.
Lower North Island Region
•
An issuing point stamp was stolen yesterday from the Mobile Pop-up voting location in Castlepoint. Ballot
papers are all accounted for.
•
No other significant issues to report.  International group is visiting voting places.
South Island Region
•
Watching the weather with severe wind warnings in Canterbury area.  Sending out messages about
securing the signage.  Heavy rain in Westland, Haast in particular, will determine route back to Nelson
based on how it develops.  Wind may impact return of materials from Stewart Island.
•
Adventure Bike Park in Christchurch is closing due to the wind, but the voting place will currently still
remain open, there is a risk the whole site will close down.
•
Experiencing high staff churn, COVID-19 is creating issues.  Moving the contingency workforce around to
fill the most urgent gaps.
•
9 confirmed scrutineers currently for the early count, across the 16 electorates.  Only 2 currently
confirmed for the official count.
Voting Services
•
Xx

Enrolment
GENERAL UPDATE (apology from Ross)
•  Nothing to update
IT
GENERAL UPDATE:
•  Emergency EMS release – An emergency release of EMS is required and being conducted at 1pm today, to
correct an error in the “Successful Candidates Report’ the last report that goes out once 100% of the vote
count has been completed.
•  All other planned readiness tasks have been completed or are on schedule as per the plan.
Comms &
GENERAL UPDATE:
Education
•  ‘Last chance to vote’ media release put out this morning – contains key messages for Port Waikato voters
and also messaging about malls being busy voting places and reminding people that there are other voting
places available like schools and community halls.
•  Positive interviews with Chief Electoral Officer on Breakfast (TVNZ), The AM Show (TV3) and Morning
Report (RNZ) this morning. Seven Sharp interview this evening with DCE, Operations.
•  Still receiving lots of requests from media to film voting places on election day
•  Proactive social media posts today - last chance to vote, overseas enrolment reminder
•  Social media –fewer issues requiring escalation; lots of people sharing political opinions
Daily key metrics
•  25 media enquiries yesterday
•  385 enquiries and comments on social media
•  149,817 web visits
Customer
GENERAL UPDATE:
Services
•  Since yesterday, the team resolved 694 tickets, received 111 phone calls and made 29 outbound calls. 85%
of tickets were resolved in one-touch. Telnet received 2,009 calls and 186 emails.
•  The top enquiries were about Where to Vote (16%), Unable to get to a Voting Place (14%) and How to
Vote (12%). 26% of the contacts were triggered by Word of Mouth and 24% by our website.
•  52 complaints are on hand across the business units - 443 complaints have been resolved, out of over
55,000 requests received so far since the campaign started.
Legal &
GENERAL UPDATE
Policy
•  On-going scrutineer issues raised by some parties and candidates. We are continuing to liaise with VS.
•

6(c)
Strategic
GENERAL UPDATE

IN-CONFIDENCE
DAILY INTERAGENCY REPORT TO
GEDT
Submitted daily not later than 11am.
Date: 13 October 2023

DPMC:

Nil

NZ Police:

During the evening of 12 October, a member of the public called Police around what was
perceived to be criminal behaviour (covering signs) at a Ministers office. On Police attendance it
was established this was legitimate behaviour in line with covering signage as per EC Rules. Police
note that the hypervigilance by the public around legitimate (or otherwise) election activities may
result in an increased number of calls for service.

NEMA (Daily Intelligence Briefing attached):

There is high confidence that rainfall amounts will reach warning criteria about Westland south of
Otira plus the adjacent headwaters of Canterbury and Otago on Saturday, and again on Sunday.
The confidence of warning amounts of rain in Fiordland, northern Westland, Buller, and western
Tasman is considered moderate, but it is low for Southland, Clutha and the Tararua range.

There is high confidence that northwest winds will reach severe gale about exposed parts of
Canterbury, Marlborough, Wellington, Wairarapa and the Tararua District during this time (see
map below).

NEMA Comment: Current forecasts remain below an emergency threshold and will be monitored
over the weekend. MetService was quoted in the media yesterday advising people to vote early to
avoid the weekend weather. NEMA advice remains for the EC to engage with CDEM groups at the
regional level for location-specific decisions around messaging. Given the number of regions
affected across the country, consideration could be given to national messaging encouraging
people to vote ahead of the weekend.

GCSB:

NSTR
IN-CONFIDENCE

IN-CONFIDENCE

NZSIS:
Reporting via the JIG

MoH:

NSTR

Waka Kotahi:
https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/highway-conditions/traffic-and-travel-list-view/

NSTR

MFAT:

NSTR

MoJ:

Port Waikato by-election

A paper is to be considered by Cabinet on 16 October 2023 on (i) funding requirements and (ii) a
technical Order in Council required to support the delivery of the Port Waikato by-election.

FENZ:

NSTR

MPI:

NSTR

MBIE:

NSTR
IN-CONFIDENCE

IN-CONFIDENCE

Prepared by: David

IN-CONFIDENCE

•
Issue with long queues at Sylvia Park Mall, 45 minute wait to vote. Looking at adding more staff but low
on back-up staff.
•
Options to address this include getting Voter Assistants (VA) to inform people about wait times, suggest a
quieter time to return, and / or redirect them to next closest voting place.
Central North Island Region
•
National Office contingency workforce on its way to East Coast. Contingency plan in place to move staff
around the electorate if needed.  Concerned with voting place manager shortfalls.
•
Electorates are reporting staff withdrawals, are using on-call staff, looking to transfer staff between
electorates to fill vacancies.
Lower North Island Region
•
An issuing point stamp was stolen yesterday from the Mobile Pop-up voting location in Castlepoint. Ballot
papers are all accounted for. Classified as minor risk.
•
International visitors are visiting voting places.
•
Providing support to newer Electorate Managers to prepare for Election Day.
South Island Region
•
Watching the weather with severe wind warnings in Canterbury area.  Sending out messages to secure
voting signage.  Heavy rain in Westland, Haast in particular, will impact return of ballot papers to HQ, may
require a change in route.
•
Adventure Bike Park in Christchurch is closing due to the wind, but the voting place remains open. There
is a risk the whole site will close if weather worsens.
•
A school had a water leak and had to be shut temporarily but expecting it to be opened by tomorrow.
•
Experiencing issues with high staff turnover and COVID-19.  Moving the contingency workforce around to
fill the most urgent gaps.
•
9 confirmed scrutineers currently for the early count, across the 16 electorates.  Only 2 currently
confirmed for the official count.
•
Staff could not get back after trying to collect votes from Stewart Island due to the weather. Secured the
materials with the local Police. Depending on the weather condition, this may be pushed out until
Monday for collection.
Enrolment
GENERAL UPDATE (apology from Ross)
•  Nothing to update
IT
GENERAL UPDATE:
•  Emergency EMS release – An emergency release of EMS is required and being conducted at 1pm today, to
correct an error in the “Successful Candidates Report’ the last report that goes out once 100% of the vote
count has been completed.
•  All other planned readiness tasks have been completed or are on schedule as per the plan.
•  A SPAM message sent to Voting Assistant phone. Working on trying to block the number across the
Commission.
Comms &
GENERAL UPDATE:
Education
•  ‘Last chance to vote’ media release put out this morning – contains key messages for Port Waikato voters
and messaging about malls being busy voting places and reminding people that there are other voting
places available like schools and community halls.
•  Positive interviews with Chief Electoral Officer on Breakfast (TVNZ), The AM Show (TV3) and Morning
Report (RNZ) this morning. Seven Sharp interview this evening with DCE, Operations.
•  Still receiving lots of requests from media to film voting places on election day
•  Proactive social media posts today - last chance to vote, overseas enrolment reminder
•  Social media –fewer issues requiring escalation; lots of people sharing political opinions
Daily key metrics
•  25 media enquiries yesterday
•  385 enquiries and comments on social media
•  149,817 web visits

6(c)

Severe
Weather
Outlook –
Saturday 14
October

UNCLASSIFIED

A  strong  wind  warning  is  in  place  for  Marlborough.  From  0300hrs  tomorrow  to  1700hrs  tomorrow.  Severe  gale
northwesterlies gusting 120km/h in exposed places, especially about the Kaikoura Coast and ranges.

A strong wind warning is in place for Canterbury High Country. From 2100hrs tonight to 1600hrs tomorrow. Severe gale
northwesterlies with damaging gusts of 140km/h in exposed places.

A  strong  wind  warning  is  in  place  for  Canterbury  Plains  and  Christchurch  including  Banks  Peninsula. From  0600hrs
tomorrow to 1600hrs tomorrow. Severe gale northwesterlies with damaging gusts of 130km/h in exposed places.

Heavy rain watches and strong wind watches are also in place for multiple regions of New Zealand.

Severe Weather Outlook

A  strong  west  to  northwest  flow  with
embedded  fronts  covers  New  Zealand  till
Wednesday. The fronts may bring heavy rain
to  the  west  of  the  South  Island  and  the
Southern  Alps.  Gales  are  likely  over  many
South  Island  areas  and  the  far  south of the
North Island.
On  Sunday  there  is  high  confidence  that
rainfall amounts will reach warning criteria in
Fiordland,  Westland  and  the  adjacent
headwaters  of  Canterbury  and  moderate
confidence  in  warning  amounts  of  rain  in
Buller.  There  is  high  confidence  that
northwest winds will reach severe gale about
exposed  parts  of  Canterbury,  Marlborough,
Wellington  and  Wairarapa  including  the
Tararua District.
On  Monday  there  is  high  confidence  that
rainfall amounts will reach warning criteria in
Fiordland  and  Westland. There is moderate
confidence in severe northwest gales about
exposed  parts  of  the  Marlborough  Sounds,
Wellington  and  Wairarapa  south  of  the
Tararua District.
Prepared by the NEMA Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting Centre to provide awareness that supports informed decision making.
Any questions, comments or contributions should be addressed to: [email address].