Nurses' union says at least 12 North Shore patients could not vote

NZ Nurses Organisation delegate Sophie Tomes has claimed that at least 12 patients at North Shore Hospital, in Auckland, were unable to vote in the general election because they were bed-ridden, according to RNZ.

The claimed 12 patients included five from the Elective Surgery Centre, four from Ward 4 and three from Ward 15.

Ms Tomes said the Electoral Commission, the independent body that runs elections, had mobile voting teams at North Shore and Middlemore hospitals only on the day before the election. She said union delegates had previously urged the commission to make mobile teams available on election day.

The commission said it had a mobile team at Middlemore Hospital, in south Auckland, all day on Friday, 6 November, to issue takeaway votes to patients in the wards. It said the team returned to Middlemore on election day to pick up completed votes. The commission also said the voting services it arranged with Middlemore for the 2026 general election were the same as those provided in 2023.

The Nurses Organisation, which is surveying its members at two Auckland hospitals, is trying to establish how many patients missed out on voting. The union said there could be additional patients beyond the dozen identified at North Shore Hospital who were unable to vote in the general election, according to its media release page.