Two arrests in electoral fraud case
NB: This post was removed from view during the period that name suppression was in force.
The Herald reports:
Two men have been arrested and charged with forgery over alleged Super City voter fraud.
Detective Inspector Mark Gutry said the men, aged 39 and 36, would appear in the Manukau District Court today.
He said the forgery charges were representative and more could follow.
Mr Gutry said police officers had been working closely with the Electoral Enrolment Centre “to ensure a credible and democratic process in the upcoming local body election”.
The investigation was likely to continue for some time and more people could face charges, he said.
Good.
No Right Turn has tweeted that Andrew Little has confirmed one of those arrested is involved with Labour.
UPDATE:
I am told the names of the two people arrested are Daljit Singh JP and Gurinda Singh. They do not have name suppression at this stage, but I understand they may apply for it.
To help people recognise Daljit Singh, here is the photo he uses on his candidate brochure.
And another photo of Mr Singh with some unknown friends:
October 5th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Involved in Labour – I better have a sit down – the shock of that is just too much.
October 5th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
labour – forgery’s – Must be Helen Clarke back at it again
October 5th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
So if the other person isn’t involved with Labour will the Labour person start crying that as they weren’t the only one doing it that it’s not fair to prosecute them? Are we about to see the charges dropped for the Labour person because it’s not in the public interest to investigate electoral fraud when Labour are involved?
Will Labour be calling for retrospective validations because it’s the way it’s always been done and the rules were not clear ?
I wait for NRT to claim it’s not fair that since this practice has been going on like this for decades that a Labour person has to be accountable for breaking the law.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I hope that the judge before whom these men appear has taken a signal from Simon Power’s announcement this morning. If either of the men charged is a local body candidate, voters have a right to know.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Just wondered…. Are they real NZers?
October 5th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Redbaiter
Of course they are, they are typical Labour party members – the ends justifies the means. I wait for Trotter to write an opinion piece on how union members should use the lead pipe to bash the people who blew the wistle on their courageous corruption efforts.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Red, that’s an absolute classic! Are you filling in on Breakfast for a couple of weeks?
October 5th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Well, let’s see what NRT has written already. There’s this: “If [Daljit Singh] is responsible, then I expect the Labour Party to dump him the moment it becomes clear. Anything less is supporting electoral fraud. And no decent kiwi can support a political party which supports that. ”
Or this: “Forty officers is a serious investment of resources by the police, and hopefully they’ll get to the bottom of this. Electoral fraud has no place at all in our democracy, and those who organised this attempt need to be prosecuted for it. “
October 5th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
“Are you filling in on Breakfast for a couple of weeks?”
If I ever became desperate enough to accept their filthy lucre, how long do you reckon it would take for the liberal fascists to be screaming for the return of Paul Henry? One millisecond or two?
October 5th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Postal voting HAS to go.
It is THAT simple.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Labour party you say… shit could knocked me down with an M1.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Fortunately labour no longer has control over the police.
Or , there would have been no investigation. There is clear precedence for this.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Well, I guess few here would be surprised at the socialists using the tools of their trade. Of course, they will be hoping for a free pass from the steam powered media. Move along folks. Nothing to see here. Now where is my application for press secretary? Did I send out my CV yet? Did I renew my membership?
cheers
David Prosser
October 5th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Repton
And no decent kiwi can support a political party which supports that.
That would be the same NRT who failed to understand that using urgency outside of normal budget cycle to validate the theft of $800,000 and kill a standing court case was not the same as validating unplanned emergency aid in the budget.
By his own words he is not a decent kiwi – an apologist who is too scared to be shown as such on his own blog.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
wreck1080
Exactly, with their courageous corruption apologists running defense for them.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Hmmm… so Labour seem to be getting ready to ditch the perpetrator, because they can’r abide electoral fraud.
That’s odd… under their previous leader they didn’t seem to mind.
Perhaps Singh ought to have fronted a press conference and, when asked if he’d organised some dodgy enrolments, held up a big sign with “NO” printed on it. Worked for the last trickster… H1 and H2 would have died in a ditch with him.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Rex
That’s the difference between Labour being in opposition and Labour being in govt. Fantastic that they are now not entirely above the law like they were under dear leader.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
I believe Trotter called it “Noble corruption” burt.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Fellow Kiwibloggers,
I don’t get it.
[deleted by DPF
He’s an Indian, in an area with a significant Indian population.
Why does he need to cheat for a pissant local board he should win in a gentle canter?
The only answer I can think of is because the power of the fraudulent votes helps others – Labour Councillors, maybe even a Labour mayor?
October 5th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
[deleted by DPF]
Is that JP as in Justice of the Peace, or part of his name?
October 5th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Dickshit, Anand and [deleted by DPF]
October 5th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
“To help people recognise Daljit Singh”
Of course. The fact that Len Brown is in the picture is mere coincidence, I’m sure.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
[tongue in cheek]
It was probably simply a misunderstanding due to cultural differences. He very likely didn’t know that corruption is illegal here, as it is the usual way of doing things in India… Very sorry…
[tongue out of cheek]
October 5th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
No George hes not an Indian, hes a “real New Zelander”. Don’t upset the RRC.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Dammit, i just lost my post, so i’ll keep this breif.
“Postal voting HAS to go.
It is THAT simple.”
Postal voting is hard to defraud because doing so normally requires considerible time, physical effort, and breaking the chain of custody is all hard to acheive. Twink and ink just won’t cut it when you have hundreds of thousands of votes.
E-voting, its all easily hacked. Yes hacked. None of what protects paper voting, stops evote hacking. Time, physical effort, and chain of custody is meaningless.
The hacks can be performed at many different points, from the machines collecting the vote, to vote record from each machine, to the server which counts all the records.
Just do a little research on google if you wish to know how insecure they are.
If you stick with paper, it might take a bit more effort and might cost a fair bit more, but its damned hard for individuals to defruad it.
e-vote fruad just takes 1 teenager with a bit of brains and little ethics to pull off, and being detected (let alone caught) if done well is slim to none.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
His candidate profile says: “My professional background is in Real Estate and I am also a Registered Immigration Adviser”. Is it time to review another lot of Labour Government immigration decisions?
October 5th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
“I am told the names of the two people arrested are Daljit Singh JP and Gurinda Singh. They do not have name suppression at this stage, but I understand they may apply for it”
We all promise to forget their names when that happens DPF.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Origen.
I know Labour teaches otherwise, but it would be very unwise to start shooting messengers in this case. If convicted, everyone that has had a political association with these people will be tarred to some degree, that is the way the world works.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Origen – you are right, it probably isn’t a coincidence that Len has his photo taken with an electoral fraudster…
October 5th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Bazar>If you stick with paper, it might take a bit more effort and might cost a fair bit more, but its damned hard for individuals to defruad it.
You are kidding, I hope.
I live in Wellington. A few elections ago my Auckland-based sister and her bloke had left for Australia permanently. Her post was redirected to my place, including their Auckland City Council voting papers. It would have been trivially easy for an unethical person to vote twice for Banksy, rather than what ever lefty the two of them would have voted for if they were still in the country. Too easy, whereas corrupting a properly designed electronic system is hard… As hard as corrupting e-banking where banks and bank customers risk tens of billions of dollars in transactions each year without more than a trivial amount of fraud.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Len Brown as Auckland’s mayor…………
It will end in tears (and chest beating)
Fine company he keeps here
October 5th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Bazar:
You have evidence of this, I assume? Because I’ve been studying e-voting since 1999 when I headed the NZ Electronic Electoral Trial.
Yes, “voting machines” can be interefered with, and can themselves be flawed (such as when they’re used to punch cards, leaving “hanging chads”).
But an online system protected by secure layers, personal identifiers and other security measures (disclaimer: I’m not a tech head, I’m a political operative) is as secure – at least – as the banking systems which are used to securely transfer billions of dollars a day, every day, the world over.
Yes, those are occasionally hacked too. But not by “1 teenager with a bit of brains”. The latest worm to breach high levels of security, Stuxnet, is widely believed to have been writen by the Israeli government simply because the computing power, time and number of minds needed to compile it would require the money only a nation state would have.
It’s certainly beyond the resources of your average corrupt Indian fraudster like Mr Singh.
E-voting offers an unrivalled opportunity to bring democracy into the daily lives of people by permitting low-cost votes and/or polls on major decisions. Dismissing it with offhand and unsubstantiated allegations of “teenage hackers” risks denying people the right and the ability to participate in the political process. So don’t do it lightly.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I wonder if the spokesperson for the NZ sikh Society, i Think his name is Manpreet Singh, will take
an opportunity to condemn this corruption which has been imported into New Zealand by his members.
He was straight out of the blocks to complain about a police officer who he accused of rudeness and offering
money to some of his members to implicate a certain candidate.
Dont hold your breath.
Wreck1080. spot on, this could not have been investigted under Helen Clarks rule.
Congratulations to Inspector Mark Gutry and his team.
New Zealand expects the magistrate concerned, whomever it will be , to do his duty also.
This has been a strike against our democracy and should be delt with in a manner that will send a strong message.
If these mongrels are convicted can they be sent back to the hole they came from ?
October 5th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
“Andrew Little has confirmed one of those arrested is involved with Labour.”
Involved with?
Being a Labour candidate is a bit more than involved with!
October 5th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Anyone know what odds the Indian bookies are offerring on a Len Brown victory?
October 5th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I’m not sure their mothers would approve.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Probably get off, after all they’re only guilty of trying to help their consituents.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
lmao at the picture with Len Brown in the middle you couldn’t wish for worse.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Postal voting is a joke, I know of a chap who has four other people in his home who are eligible to vote, none of the other four are even remotely interested in local body politics.
All he did was fish their voting papers out of the bin and fill them in the way he wanted, the result is that he has had five votes for the candidates of his choice.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Is it true that the picture up there is now John Banks electoral billboard?
October 5th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
It will be ineresting to see how much importance TVNZ gives this story tonight.
Will they even report it seeing it involves a Labour candidate.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Im just waiting for that F…W.. de Bres to come out and say its a racist attack.
And the guy from the Sikh Society is bound to apprea soon with the same old story.
As to voting What we need to do is have these people dip their fore finger in indelible ink like they do in their country to prevent them voting early and voting often.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Screw him last, hes not a real New Zealander anyway.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
@Murray. Heh, that’s funny.
Let’s have a proper and full investigation, and whomever is nicked… throw the book at them.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
@ Bereal (2.57pm) – agree wholeheartedly; that the police immediately allocated 40 officers to this inquiry, and that arrest have been made before the completion of the postal ballot reflects considerable credit on the officers involved, especially DI Gutry. It’s easy to give the police a bad rap, but in this case they have done an outstanding job.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
It seems that the Auckland Super City election has been corrupted to what extent nobody will ever know. A new election seems necessary perhaps with UN observers.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
“Her post was redirected to my place, including their Auckland City Council voting papers. It would have been trivially easy for an unethical person to vote twice … whereas corrupting a properly designed electronic system is hard”
I’m not talking about 1-2 votes scammed from your friends. Honestly that’s nothing in the greater scheme of things. I’ve seen boyfriends vote for whoever their girlfriend wanted just because. Thats just as bad, but compleatly legitmate.
Anyway i’m going off topic, but inconsistencies like using someone elses votes are bad, but “mostly harmless” in the greater scheme of things.
Its easily fixed by having a return mail sent saying thank you for voting. Or your vote was not used this election term. I just don’t think it changes the outcome.
Having the voting machines hacked and having hundreds/thousands of votes changed can change the outcome of an election. That is what IS harmful, and must be prevented at all costs.
“You have evidence of this, I assume?”
Google hacking die bold machines, or along those lines. For better results, go to slashdot.org and search the tag diebold. You’ll get about 140 articles on topics of evoting.
But for those too lazy for any research, I’ll just post some links that should at the very least add doubt to the validity of e-voting.
Lazy Research links:
They showed that anyone who gets access to the machine and its memory card for literally a minute or two could easily install the group’s invisible vote-stealing software on the machine.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2507434&page=1
There have been dozens of reports from around India that politicians have been approached by engineers offering to manipulate the machines to steal votes
http://boingboing.net/2010/05/06/indias-e-voting-mach.html
A circuit court judge, a county clerk, and election officials are among eight people indicted for gaming elections in 2002, 2004, and 2006
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7001
You cannot tell me that there is such a thing as a secure IT system. One of the first rules of IT security is if you have phyical access to the machine, you can bypass any security given time.
Stick with paper, at least untill a tried and true voting system is given a PROVEN track record for a decade or longer.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
They are already reporting it.
It is a different sort of story, topical, so there’s a good reason they will give it some importance. They will probably give it more importance than the Henry story.
Re postal voting – there are pros and cons. I think it is much easier to fiddle votes with it. But it is also much easier to spend time checking the different elections and have a good look through the candidates, there is a lot to it so doing it on the spot in a polling booth would be quite difficult.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Up until 15 minutes ago, Stuff still had Paul Henry at the top of their stories and no still no mention of this one amongst the top stories. It has gone straight to the National section.
This story is far bigger than P Henry, suppression rule changes, P North story complaint, Macsyna King, and a lost passport.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
And the 20+ voting papers that turned up at my place that belonged to tenants past? If that happens a few times, multiple-voters can start to have an impact (especially considering low turnout).
Anyone with access to the post-boxes in their street can also collect all voting papers and fill them out easily. Those who complain will get new papers issued, those who weren’t going to vote (probably upwards of 50%) won’t even realise. Basic principle is: postal voting is no more secure than electronic voting.
October 5th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I’m Singhing in the drain
Just Singhing in the drain
What a glorious feelin’
It’s Labour again
October 5th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
What happens to votes that have been cast before this came to light? The basis of this election is now fraudulent as you can’t separate the truth from the lies once they’re in the post box.
Plus, a candidate that has been arrested and charged relating to electoral fraud and his fellow candidates (Mayoral, etc.) may have already attracted votes they would not have had this been known.
Is there a reason why this should not be scrapped and started all over again? (Forgetting the cost for now, I’m asking about precedents) Because it seems to me the whole thing is wrong now.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Jack5, brilliant – but do they all look like “real” New Zealanders. And “backster”, no good getting in the UN to supervise, he seems pretty well connected there too.
Interesting that The Standard has gone over the top with Paul Henry, as has the MSM. They must have known this was coming up and needed a smokescreen.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
That theres some funny shit worth ripping off Jack5.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Jack5. Very good.
More to the point, will they singh like little Indian Mynah birds when they are cross examined?
And one of the pricks is a Justice of the Peace, for God’s sake!!
October 5th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Grumpy (4.07 post): It’s a toss up as to which of the three in the picture looks the most real New Zealand man. Perhaps the person on the right of the three – by a whisker, or lack thereof.
You can tell this third person from the left ain’t a Sikh in good standing, however. My guess is: shaven and de-turbanned for continually leaving successively supplied Sikh ceremonial daggers in the backs of NZ politicians and voters.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Nothing posted on The Standard about this yet. There are 5 posts about Paul Henry, 3 of them put up today.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Another headline in the Herald “Postie fired for not delivering voting packs.” in South Auckland of course, it doesn’t say whether he was Indian but they found 400 undelivered packs and they suspect that more packs were disposed of.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Bazar:
That’s why, quite specifically, I said “voting machines” were open to hacking an misuse and why I won’t be following your spurious links. They only replace the ballot boxes at polling places anyway, so they don’t bring about the kind of open democracy you get with true e-voting.
I’m talking about making every PC a “voting machine” and having the results processed and stored not on thousands of “voting machines” all over the countryside to which anyone can gain access but on secure servers at a secure location supervised by government officials from the Chief Electoral Office (who’ve supervised previous elections, so are presumably beyond reproach).
To infiltrate that system – assuming it was set up properly with at least the same security as a bank – would require an enormous investment of time, money and expertise well beyond the likes of Mr Singh and his cronies while making regular access to democratic decision-making available to every citizen.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
One of those involved just got name suppression. Its unclear which one, so you may all want to be careful.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
“One of those involved just got name suppression.”
Why? Because he’s Labour?
What a fucking disgrace.
Man this country is so corrupt.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
So which name are we forgetting Daljit Singh JP or Gurinda Singh?
October 5th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
IdiotSavant, of course he got name suppression – he’s a Labour flunky after all – and a “real” NZer. Now all Labour need to do is get the cop fired (like Henry), oh wait, Labour aren’t in government any more – bugger!
October 5th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I think we should just forget the “JP” bit.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
So the Courts think we shouldn’t know if a candidate is corrupt?????
Not in the public interest eh?
October 5th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
The other consideration is that whilst Singh would have been directing the fraudulent votes to his own candidacy, the accompanying Mayoral ballot paper and vote will have been given to Labour’s choice of Mayor – Len Brown, so the ballot rigging is much wider than just the local Papatoetoe area – it influences the Mayoral election too..
October 5th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Make that both.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Bazar>Having the voting machines hacked and having hundreds/thousands of votes changed can change the outcome of an election. That is what IS harmful, and must be prevented at all costs.
Electronic voting doesn’t have to involve a machine, and if a machine model is involved then it doesn’t have to be a Diebold one. The problems that you highlight, such as access to hardware allowing corruption of results, are also common to paper based voting. A person with access to the ballot printing presses might steal a large number of ballot papers and introduce those to the system, marked, at a later stage. Anyone with access to the ballot box might corrupt the votes inside. And if electoral staff are open to bribes then the sky is the limit.
But look at an analogous system: EFTPOS machines. If it was trivially easy to add devices inside an EFTPOS machine, to bribe the EFTPOS programmers, to hack the back end EFTPOS server, or to recruit “1 teenager with a bit of brains and little ethics” in order to steal money then thousands of people would be doing it. But despite the billions of dollars available for the taking, it doesn’t happen. People don’t worry about it and it is doubtful if anyone reading this has ever seen a dodgy EFTPOS transaction on their statement unless they were stupid enough to have lost their card and given away their PIN.
And if you’re still worried, then add a paper based “backup” to the system. Have the voting machine print out a small paper receipt showing clearly who you voted for, along with some transactional tracking codes. Post it in an old fashioned ballot box. Check a sample of these for anomalies, or if required to by an electoral petition, or what ever. Easy!
October 5th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Learnt from the best
October 5th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
So I guess not much chance of a KFC voucher in South Auckland this time…..
October 5th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
So … what is going to happen to the posts that have the unseens name?
October 5th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
That name suppression is an absolute outrage. If either of these guys is a candidate, surely the voting public has a right to no, given that the elction they are accused of trying to rig is in progress. I hope that the Crown appeals this name suppression first thing tomorrow.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Was the postie a “real NZer”?
October 5th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Banana Llama
In the best interests of the Labour party we just move on. I/S is probably preparing a post right now that shows retrospective validations outside of normal budget cycle in the best interests of the Labour party are normal and necessary for democracy.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
“Anyone with access to the post-boxes in their street can also collect all voting papers and fill them out easily. ”
And i expect such fruad would be caught very easily and quickly, once the counting happens and a entire street is found to have voted twice.
The voting papers are unique to each voter. Just take a look at the barcode on the return envalope, and yuo’ll see your voter ID that is recorded with each vote.
“And the 20+ voting papers that turned up at my place that belonged to tenants past? If that happens a few times, multiple-voters can start to have an impact (especially considering low turnout).”
They could, if they all voted the same way. But lets say there are 100 cases of such a 20 vote screw up. Statisticly they’ll even each other out.
It does lead to a larger margin of error, and it isn’t fair. But having 5000 votes controled by 200 people isn’t anywhere near as baised as having 3000 votes controled by 1.
“Basic principle is: postal voting is no more secure than electronic voting.”
Unless you’ve done actual research on the topic, thats just wishful thinking. The paper system does have flaws, but don’t throw it out just because you’ve found a small way of manipulating votes, or if you think going eletronic will solve all our problems. It won’t.
And to be honest, i fail to see how an eletronic system would improve that aspect of vote fishing. If you mailed them a voter ID/password. Fishing it out of the trash would be as valid as with paper. Going to an e-voting booth would be the same as a paper-booth.
Implementing a National New Zealand ID scheme so the web could be use. Thats gone down so well in every country thats attempted it, with the UK giving up amist massive privacy protests and citing it being too expensive to continue.
Not to mention you then have to deal with people using systems that are utterly, utterly, infected with viri/malware, or just roommates using it.
Anyway, i believe i’ve made my points.
Paper works. Its has flaws, its more expensive, and it takes time to tally. But its god damned robust and hard to tamper with (people throwing their votes away excluded).
October 5th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Chris2 You are correct. So the election should be abandoned immediately. A new election must be held with only white property owning males born in New Zealand eligible to vote.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
So, does that mean that No Right Turn needs to take down it’s post? What about Andrew Little potentially identifying their identity?
October 5th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
@ burt – I never thought that I would defend Idiot/Savant, but I actually believe that he is as strongly angered that this has happened as I am, and as many others are. There is no place for corruption in our electoral system, regardless of which side of the political divide it comes from.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Only today I’ve reiterated my belief that everyone arrested should get name suppression till their trial, to minimise the damage done to their lives if they’re subsequently found not guilty or the charges are dropped.
But if ever there was an argument I’d accept for publication it was a situation where the accused was in the process of asking people to vote for him and the charges he faced were electoral fraud. To suppress in that situation is analagous to granting suppression of the name of a potentially faulty appliance and allowing people to continue buying it so as to save the manufacturer’s reputation.
When we permit people to be publicly accused of sex and dishonesty crimes, destroying their lives regardless of the eventual finding of guilt or innocence, yet we protect those accused of what amounts to sedition… the law is truly an ass.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Does anyone know the name of the judge who granted these mongrels suppression ?
What possible grounds could he have for suppression ?
This is a disgrace. What a pittifull system we have.
Does the judge not know there is an election taking place ?
And one of these mongrels is a candidate.
What about the rights of New Zealanders for open justice.
This excuse for a judge deserves to be exposed.
backster, you are right. We need help here.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Its going to make their election material a bit tricky for them to handle.
Could be the suppression laws are a load of shit. Who knew?
October 5th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
With apologies to “The Sprout” over at The Standard. As in photo above…
One of these things is not like the other,
One of these things is not quite the same.
Can you guess which one is not like the other,
Can you tell me before I finish the game?
October 5th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
@ Rex – agree 110%
October 5th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
The problem the court has is that the cat is out of the bag so to speak.
I2 the DCJ before whom the accused appeared, rejected their application for name supression. What they have done is appeal that decision, so there will be temprorary name supression, until the issue of name supression is argued in the High Court, hopefully before the week is out. Given the nature of the charges I think the crown will strenuously oppose the appeal.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
lol david i ripped those two pictures of the unseen just in time.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
bereal asks:
In fact he refused it. They appealed, as is their right, which grants automatic name suppression for 48 hours while the Court of Appeal looks at it. Which handily takes the supression up to the close of the election, after which I suspect “these mongrels” won’t be too worried one way or the other.
They’re gaming te system, bereal, but the system has evolved over hundreds of years to protect the truly innocent and we should be wary of sugegsting it gets dismantled every time some worm misuses it, as we did with provocation as a defence.
October 5th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
“To infiltrate that system – assuming it was set up properly with at least the same security as a bank – would require an enormous investment of time, money and expertise well beyond the likes of Mr Singh and his cronies while making regular access to democratic decision-making available to every citizen.”
You might be right, but i’m not aware of any country that does it as such. As i hinted in a previous post, the Infrastructure required for such a system is massive. And it basicly requires a national ID. Which badly implemented would be a huge privacy concern. I’d rather stick with paper for the time being, and learn from other countries mistakes as they are far more into e-voting then NZ.
It woudln’t be so bad if it was an ID system used just for voting, but it’d almost certainly expand to encompass other govermental rights/utilities, eventually making ID theif that much easier. (As sooner or later your ID WILL be leaked).