Rotary Club of PlimmertonDon Johnston on Election Issues
One of our own members, Don Johnston, was involved in the administration of the recent General Election.
Since July he has been working as Operations Manager for the Mana Electorate, with its 43 voting places and 3 advanced voting places.
Don shared his experiences dealing with the “massive logistics beast” of collection, checking and counting the votes from the Mana Electorate. He described the job as “colossal” especially when it came to validating votes and considering the “Special” votes.
Early voting in the North City shopping mall was very popular, and created quite a buzz. Voter turnout was very high in the Wellington region with 5 electorates in the top seven. Porirua had an 82.29% turnout and Wellington Central had 84.46%, whereas Tamaki had just 60.7% and Manurewa 70.2%. The Advance Voting Places took hundreds of registrations, and Don’s comment was that too many people were ignorant about voting. He thinks there should be more emphasis on voter education, as well as with the Census.
Considering the amount of work involved in holding a General Election, Don thinks it should be changed to every four to five years.
Snippets
Our Exchange Student, Jessica, is on the move to stay with Dianne McGavin. Please include Jessica in some of your activities and take her out, even if it’s just for a coffee. She is a lovely girl and would like to get to know other Rotary members and their families better. Contact Jessica through Dianne McGavin on 237-7739.
Next Week: Our own Marty Donaghue gave his inaugural speech on 26th September and it soon became evident that we were being introduced to a very interesting person who had unique knowledge to share with us. Join us next week to hear about Marty’s views concerning Iraq, born from his personal experiences over there.
Peter Cox entertained us with a lively sergeant session which raised money for the Food Bank.
The last Wine and Cheese evening for this year was held at the Nichols home where 13 people met to share some wine, cheese and a couple of social hours. These get-togethers were aimed at helping us through the long winter weekends and as a substitute for Guess Who’s coming to Dinner. They were a great success. Thanks to all those who hosted and also to all those who participated. It was greatly enjoyed by everyone who was involved.
Melbourne Cup Casino Night: It is not too late to volunteer to help as Croupiers. Those wanting to help contact Alan Nichols on 234 8415.
This evening will be a social night / fund raiser with net proceeds to Cannon’s Creek Boxing Academy (which was started by Billy Graham to support and mentor young men in the area).
Cost will be $20 per person with $10 to CCBA and $10 for finger foods served during the evening. This event will now start at 4.00pm. A cash bar will operate. The Melbourne Cup Horse race will run just after 5.00pm. The evening will conclude at approximately 8.00pm.
There will be a prize for best hat / fascinator.
Sweepstakes will be run for a flutter on the race itself.
Inner Wheel , Zonta and Mana Cruising Club have been invited.
Inner Wheel members who are wives / partners of Rotarians, please confirm you are coming in the Rotary Numbers count. A ring-around will be done. Numbers must be confirmed no later than Sunday night, 2 November.