Pōti ahau – I voted (2023)

Today I voted in New Zealand’s General Election, during the two week Early Voting period. Election Day itself—the last day to vote—is this Saturday, October 14. The nearest voting place to my house was Te Awa, the mall at The Base Shopping Centre, and with the new road open, it took maybe seven minutes to get there, including traffic lights.

I planned on going to a couple shops while I was there, so I parked kind of between destinations. I new the voting was in the mall, but I didn’t know where, exactly: All I’d read was “centre court”. It turned out it was at one end of the mall, and I found easily, even without any signs directing people.

The procedure as fast an easy as ever—it took maybe five minutes in total (there are only two votes to cast this election). There were people voting before me and after me, most of whom were somewhere around my age (older, maybe?).

I took the photo above right after I was done voting, after checking over my shoulder to make sure the voting place wasn’t visibly (photography is prohibited without permission).

When I was done, I was going to go check out the JB Hi-Fi which recently relocated to Te Awa from central Hamilton. Unfortunately, I forgot. I next went to another shop in the mall I wanted to visit, but they didn’t have what I’d seen online, and I went there specifically for that thing (hopefully a story for another day). I thought about looking in a couple clothes shops, but decided I still wasn’t quite ready to shop for clothes (same reasons I talked about on Sunday). More conditioning is needed, I guess.

I headed out, thinking I might grab some lunch—but it was barely 11:30 at that point, and the place I was interested in trying seemed to be still setting up. I also realised that I wasn’t even remotely hungry yet. So, on to the next stop.

On to a nearby store where I also bought nothing—and forgot to look at one thing I wanted to look at. When I left, I realised that I couldn’t go the shoe store nearby to pick up another pair of “house shoes”, as I call them (what I wear inside the house only) because I forgot to check (and write down…) the size of what I wanted as printed on the shoebox (it’s UK sizing, I think). Again, on to the next stop.

I next went to Mitre 10 Mega to pick up something for an outside project (again, a story to come), which was pretty quick and easy. I also noticed a similar product for what is now a related project. I wandered around the shop for awhile, but didn’t pick up anything else, apart from a colour swatch brochure for some wood stains (I got a similar chart from Bunnings Warehouse, but for a different company). Those aren’t even for a project at this stage—more like a hope? A dream?

The day closed my watch's activity rings.

My final stop was at the nearby Countdown supermarket, where the signage was being changed to reflect the Australian owners of the chain rebranding them as “Woolworths New Zealand” (as someone suggested in a Facebook community group, that’s in case we forget what country we’re ing. The whole rebranding is costing the company a few million, which, to be blunt, seems tone-deaf when so many people are struggling. That didn’t stop me shopping there, though.

Then is was back home, and I was tired. A quiet rest of the day followed.

In preparing this post, I looked back at my last three posts about the NZ General Election—apparently I have an irregular series of such posts (list of the posts is at the end of this post). Anyway, what I noticed was the photos: In 2017, 2020, and today, I wore the same shirt (I always wear a red shirt, or one with a lot of red, as silent support for the Labour Party). Last year and today, I wore the same jacket (apparently it was colder in 2017?). I also wore the same jacket, but a different, warmer shirt when I dropped off my ballot in the 2022 local government elections (party didn’t matter for that election). The first time I ever did an Early Vote was in 2014, and I worse a different red shirt that year. I didn’t talk specifically about my own voting all that much until 2014. I guess I’ve made up for that?

Also, I probably need some more red shirts.

Previous posts about me voting:

Pōti ahau – I voted (2020)
The voting is done (2017)
I love voting My 2014 post about my first Early Voting experience
How I will vote – My general post about the 2011 election
The New Zealand election – My post about the 2008 General Election, the first after I started this blog.