Grandma and her boys

Sunday 27 November 2011

Here I am back again


This photo has nothing to do with my post it is just such a neat black and white picture of Ben 8, Grandson number 2



I have been working on the election for 8 days solid ...  Gee!! I am not used to this working for a living ...
I was Manager of an advanced Polling Station all week  full time and then on Saturday it was election day and work started at 7am ...  I finally arrived home at approx. 11pm .
I was most of the time  issuing special votes to people who were away from their own electorate area.


Now I could not believe the number of folks who could not remember where they lived 2 months ago.... or which area of the country they came from ...  as in  ... which district of a city or even the county name, not to mention the fact they had forgotten their street name .....  
We dealt with people who were rather worse for wear on the drink and drugs, folks who were just passing through Rotorua and needed to vote,   men who were on a fishing trip,     ladies who were away for the weekend on a shopping trip.  People who were at weddings or family celebrations.

I must admit it is amazing what people will tell you when they sit in front of you and you have an official badge on.. some of it is unrepeatable.....
Men who have been nagged by their wives to come and vote.  18 yr old voting for the first time  ... one girl who was 18 that day and wanted to vote.
6 guys on a Stag weekend dressed up as The Flintstones ...




People who wanted to tell you long drawn out stories about their choices .... and folks who did not have a clue what or who to vote for ... I was asked many times who I would vote for and  was it worth them voting for them as well !!
Now we also had a Referendum .... this confused the hell out of everyone ... should we keep the MMP process we have at present or change it to a choice of  four other systems ... believe me the final conclusion on the voting for  this subject is not a true picture of what people thought, wanted or what was best for anyone or everyone  ... most were complacent about it all ....  confused and did not understand the other systems ... so they said it was easier to say "keep the one we have"

Now if you want to see your fellow country men at their best and worst ... work on the General Election ... it is an education.





5 comments:

Anonymous said...

lol,glad it is over for you Laurie,well done and what a lovely pic of Ben

Fiona said...

Sounds like you had quite a bit of fun... I did one day handing out forms for our elections last year... not nearly as interesting as what yours!
Hugz

Ali Honey said...

Yes, I bet you got an education - and not a good one.

Luckily some of us did understand; walked in with our cards took our 2 voting papers; filled them in and were out of there in under 5 minutes ( 2 probably ).
I did a census beat twice so know about the public in all its peculiar forms.

I hope you get to relax for a couple of days now.

Alison said...

Sounds tiring but fun!
Alison xx

Z said...

That's how MMP got in in the first place - it was the only one that had advertising so it was the only one that people recognised (other than the status quo) so they voted for it.