This year, Auckland City Mission is partnering with the Electoral Commission to help those living without a roof navigate the voting system. Photo: RNZ / Luke McPake
A lack of voting information and accessibility is stopping people living on the streets from exercising their democratic rights.
As New Zealanders cast their votes in this year's general election, more than 100,000 people sleeping rough across the country are struggling to reach a ballot box, with some not knowing how to vote - or where to enrol.
This year, Auckland City Mission is partnering with the Electoral Commission to help those living without a roof navigate the voting system.
Francis Kingi has been living on the streets since his teenage years.
He said for those who did not even know where to spend the night, voting sometimes was not a priority.
"It is hard when you are out here.
"When you have to fight for food and a warm place to sleep, voting is not really something that's important to you at the time."
Fifty-year-old Motu had also made the streets his home for the last two decades. He wanted to vote but did not know how.
"Not everybody knows where to go. The majority of us probably want to vote, but we don't have an address, we don't know where to go.
"What we really needed was someone to come out to the street whānau and help us understand how we can do it, because if we don't vote we can get fined for it."
A couple of corners away, 43-year-old Day was sat on her usual spot in front of a fish and chip shop.
Day, left, said she was not going to vote. Photo: RNZ / Rayssa Almeida
She said the street community did not feel heard.
"I'm not going to vote; I haven't voted in years.
"Politicians don't care about the homeless, they don't listen to us, they don't listen to our voices, they only care about theirs."
For Kingi, those on the streets should have a say, even if they thought no-one was listening.
"My message for our street whānau is try and do the best you can, because this really affected us in the last two elections.
"Things get better when we all pulled together to go and vote, we need to do this again, my people, we really need to do this again."
But those without a permanent roof can and should vote.
The Electoral Commission said people could use an old address where they last lived for more than a month, even if it was some time ago.
"People in temporary accommodation or with no fixed address can enrol and vote in the election.
"They can enrol at the address where they spend a substantial part of their time, or at the last residential address where they lived for at least one month, even if that was some time ago," a spokesperson said.
Another way was using an address where the person spends the majority of their time, like a church or support group.
"When you enrol to vote, you also need to provide a postal address where electoral mail, such as enrolment confirmations or an EasyVote pack, can be sent.
"The postal address could be a PO Box, or the address of a friend, family member, church or support group, but it needs to be someone who will agree to hold mail for you to collect."
This year, in partnership with Auckland City Mission, the Electoral Commission hosted sessions for those living homeless, sharing information on how and where to vote.
The commission also set up voting places for three mornings last week on the mission's HomeGround, in the city centre.
Auckland City Mission's community development lead Sam Morrison said it was important to create electoral accessibility.
"Anything that can be done to increase our street whānau accessibility to the process of voting would make a huge difference.
"I think the more we can do to keep that conversation going, the better, so those living rough can see that their voice can have influence, can change things."
Stay up to date with Checkpoint's live election night special with Lisa Owen, Corin Dann, Jane Patterson and reporters around the country from 7pm to midnight on Saturday, running alongside live data and blogging with electorate and party vote results on RNZ's website. RNZ Asia will also be running its own live blog in Chinese.
实时更新报道， 尽在RNZ中文！ 本周六下午5点起，以中文实时追踪2023年新西兰大选。各党票数、全国选情 、计票进展与最终结果，第一手资讯尽在 www.rnz.co.nz/chinese，本周六，我们与您一同关注大选。
Then on Sunday, stay tuned for the Morning Report special from 8am to 10am, examining the results, the drama, and the changes from the night before: with polls this close, exactly who's in government will likely come down to negotiations.
