Hamilton drive-by voting initiative a success

Hamilton residents were able to cast last-minute votes on Saturday morning thanks to the Hamilton City Council’s drive-by ballot boxes.

Two electoral officials braved pouring rain and high winds in the council car park on Anglesea St, holding out ballot boxes so people could post their votes as they drove by.

Electoral official Rebecca Aston said she had no idea it was going to be that popular.

“People just kept coming and coming all morning,” she said.

“They [were] all so grateful we did this because it makes voting so easy for them.”

Senior communication advisor Natalie Palmer said the council wanted to offer as many ways to vote  as possible as easy as possible.

Almost all the drive-by voters congratulated the staff on making it so easy for them to have their say.

The drive-thru service only had one disgruntled customer who challenged the staff saying what they were doing was not legal.

This was untrue as both of the staff were electoral officials and the ballet boxes were authentic.

Despite the cold and the wind and the wet socks Ms Aston said she will definitely do it again.

“It’s so good to be able to feel like we have been able to make a difference for our customers just by doing something this simple,” she said.

The initiative received a good response when it was introduced in 2010 and electoral staff estimated this year almost 1000 votes were cast that otherwise would not made it through the postal system by the deadline.

The service was available 9am-12pm. Voters were also able to drop their last-minute votes into ballot boxes at any of the  city libraries or council building in Garden Place.