How to make sure your vote counts in the School Trustee Elections

New Zealand Post would like to reassure parents, returning officers, and the New Zealand School Trustees Association that we are making all endeavours to ensure that voting papers returned by mail receive a date stamp to ensure they are counted.

There are a few things that eligible voters can do to help make sure their vote is counted in the School Trustee Elections.

• If returning your vote by mail, try and get it into the post as soon as you can. Our delivery target for letters is up to three working days nationwide.
• Check that the envelope you’re using is prepaid, or if there is no postage applied, make sure you place a stamp on it.
• If the address on the envelope is a street address, check that this is a valid postal address by using our address and postcode finder tool on our website. Some street addresses don’t receive mail delivery and may require you to use a PO Box address to ensure there are no delays.

There is no legislative requirement for New Zealand Post to date stamp domestic mail, and our priority is always to deliver letters within our delivery target of up to three working days. If we encounter difficulties with a date stamping machine - which can happen on occasion due to the nature of technology - letters are processed without a date stamp to ensure they are delivered within target, rather than delayed. However, we can say that the vast majority of mail is date stamped.

If you are not returning your vote by mail, follow the advice from the School Trustee Association and deliver this directly to the school.