The head of the Electoral Commission says he's aware some groups have advised their supporters to apply for election jobs, raising concerns about attempted election interference.
Electoral Commission chief electoral officer Karl le Quesne made the comments at a briefing about the October 14 general election at the National Library in Wellington today.
He told reporters the Electoral Commission was "aware some groups have been advising their supporters to come and work for the Electoral Commission".
"We need about 22,000 people to come and help us deliver the election, and we have a really robust recruitment process."
He said people who apply are assessed on their application, their suitability for the role and there are interviews.
It says it's aware some groups are encouraging their supporters to apply to work with the commission. (Source: 1News)
"We ask them quite directly 'do you have any political party affiliations, or do you belong to any groups promoting political issues'? Then we ask if they can leave that at the door and deliver the election in a neutral and impartial way.
"We then follow up with criminal conviction checks, so we run a fairly robust process to check that."
He said as those 22,000 workers came from the communities where the voting places were "so we have a lot of eyes and ears over how the election's being delivered".
"That brings a lot of integrity to the process."
Asked if he had total confidence in the commission's processes given bad actors would not necessarily be upfront about their intentions, le Quesne said he had "a lot of confidence that we have some really great people leading this process".
"We have some really great training and support for how it should run."
He said he was confident that if people saw any behaviour that worried them it would be addressed quickly.
"We can move really quickly if we've got any concerns around any of our staff in terms of how they're delivering the election in a voting place."
Le Quesne said management monitored staff including how they followed processes, how they interacted with the public and any actions that weren't neutral or politically impartial.
At the end of July, Voices for Freedom posted on social media encouraging members to apply for general election jobs, linking to an Electoral Commission jobs web page.
Asked if there were any specific concerns about Voices for Freedom, le Quesne said the commission did not focus on "any particular group" but reiterated the commission reviewed applicants' "affiliations and memberships".
"It doesn't matter if they're associated with Voices for Freedom or some other organisation, we need to check that they can meet what we're expecting of them to deliver."
He said the commission was investing "a bit more" in security this election, particularly on transport of voting documents. That extra cost was not yet known as it depended on voting locations which were still being finalised, he said.
He also said the commission had been in contact with social media platforms regarding mis- and disinformation, something that had happened in the prior two elections.
Asked if he was more concerned about misinformation this election than others, he said it wasn't about more concern but the commission was "trying to get ahead of it".
"We've put a bit more effort into providing, probably, a broader range of information and more tailored to some of those common misconceptions.
"We're trying to be more proactive this time around."
Labour 2023 election campaign chairwoman Megan Woods said she trusted the Electoral Commission would ensure a sound process.
"There would be a concern to all New Zealanders if there are groups with a political agenda that seek to be part of the process."
National Party campaign chairman Chris Bishop said his party wanted everyone working on the election to be neutral and impartial.
"It's really important that for the integrity of our elections that it's administered fairly and impartially, and the Electoral Commission does a good job and we trust them to make sure they're running things fairly.
"I'm sure that they will be getting on top of the potential and possible threats that are being discussed."
He said there "clearly" would be concerns if there were partisan groups infiltrating the electoral administration process.
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