One vote chooses a party. The other chooses a local representative. Abby explores why those choices do not have to match, with a pretend-ballot challenge.
Two votes. One ballot paper. Do the choices have to match?
I like questions that look small until you start pulling them apart. This is one of those.
The short answer is no. In Aotearoa New Zealand's MMP system, the party vote and the electorate vote do different jobs. A voter can choose a candidate from one party and give their party vote to another.
That is not a mistake. It is two separate choices.
## One vote asks: which party?
The party vote is for the political party a voter wants represented in Parliament.
It largely determines how many seats each qualifying party gets overall. A party generally needs at least 5% of the party vote or an electorate win to qualify for a proportional share of seats.
The electorate seats a party wins count towards its total. List MPs fill the remaining places it is entitled to. It is not two separate piles of seats added together.
## The other asks: which person?
The electorate vote is for the candidate a voter wants to represent their local electorate in Parliament.
The candidate with the most electorate votes wins that seat. They might belong to a party, or stand as an independent.
So the questions are different: which party do you want represented, and which person do you want representing your area?
## Let's try a completely invented example
Imagine a fictional electorate called Harbour Hill.
A candidate called Sam stands for the fictional Koru Party. A voter thinks Sam would be a good local representative, but prefers the fictional Lantern Party's ideas for the country.
That voter could choose Sam for their electorate vote and Lantern for their party vote.
Or they could choose a Koru candidate and Koru for both votes. Neither choice has to match somebody else's preference.
Harbour Hill, Sam, Koru and Lantern are all made up. This is an example of how the choices work, not advice about a real candidate or party.
## What about the real parties?
Our party guide introduces National, Labour, the Green Party, ACT, New Zealand First, Te Pāti Māori and Opportunity. Those are seven featured parties, not a claim that every ballot contains only those seven.
The candidates standing in each electorate are not the same everywhere. A national party leader is not automatically a candidate on your local electorate ballot.
There is no party I am telling you to choose. Understanding the choices comes before arguing about them.
## Can a poll tell us how those votes will turn out?
A poll asks a sample of people what they think. It does not count actual election votes, and a national party-support figure does not tell us who will win a particular electorate.
Election-night results are preliminary, too. Ordinary votes are counted again and special votes are checked during the official count. Preliminary and official results are not the same thing.
My question for any big number is: what exactly is being counted?
## Your two-choice challenge
Draw two columns on a piece of scrap paper. Label one Party and the other Local candidate.
Invent two parties and two candidates. Give each a short description, then try choosing a party and a candidate. Make the choices match once, and different once.
Can you explain what each vote is doing without using the word MMP?
You do not need to ask an adult who they voted for. Real votes are private. The interesting part is understanding the system, not collecting somebody else's answer.