Age Concern Tauranga

The election is over and the turnout was low. Postal voting seems not to have found favour with any age group.
Sent out three weeks in advance, many voting papers probably got tossed out in the junk mail or were forgotten. Postal voting is not the answer, but talk of online voting could disadvantage older people, who may not use computers.
Those on superannuation alone cannot afford computers, not to mention the cost of broadband internet connection.
That is not to say many older people are not embracing the new technology, it is encouraging to hear of those in their eighties enjoying contact
with families via an iPad.
But as older people are still the ones more likely to vote, a proven system, the local polling booth, should remain an option.
Voting systems should also be standardised. The mixture of First Past The Post and Single Transferable Vote (for district health board elections) is very confusing, as evidenced by the number of invalid votes.
The number of older people in work is projected to grow in coming years. This reflects a growing older population, generally driven by increasing life expectancy across all ages. Women turning 65 in 2013 can expect to live another 23 years, on average; and men turning 65 this year can expect another 21 years of life.