Referral to the Police - 4 November 2014
On 3 November 2014, the Electoral Commission referred 26 incidents to Police in response to complaints about social media content on election day. This compares to five referrals for similar matters after the 2011 general election.
24 of the incidents involve people publishing or distributing statements likely to influence voters on election day in breach of section 197 of the Electoral Act 1993, including:
- Seven incidents involving people publishing material indicating how they voted and/or publishing statements likely to influence voters: these include comments posted by high profile sports personalities, Israel Dagg, Jonah Lomu and Eric Murray.
- Two incidents where a person posted a photograph of a completed ballot paper together with a statement that could influence voters.
- Thirteen incidents involving people sharing on election day a video featuring John Key and a ‘vote National Party’ message posted on the Young Nats Facebook page after the close of advance voting on Friday 19 September.
- Two incidents involving people sharing on election day a ‘vote for Nikki Kaye National Party candidate, Auckland Central’ message posted on her Facebook page on Friday 19 September.
- An additional two incidents have been referred to Police for further investigation involving individuals who posted online that they intended to vote more than once. Voting more than once is an offence under section 215 of the Electoral Act.
As these matters are now with the Police, the Electoral Commission will not be commenting further.
More information about the election day rules and the use of social media at elections can be found at the following links: http://www.elections.org.nz/events/2014-general-election/2014-parties-candidates-and-third-parties/election-day-rules-candidat-0 and http://www.elections.org.nz/parties-candidates/all-participants/use-social-media