Voting in Wairarapa on Saturday was unevenly distributed, with some polling booths all but empty for much of the day, while others were heaving, with hundreds of people waiting for up to an hour to cast their ballots.
At Martinborough School in South Wairarapa, for example, voters had come into town from as far away as Tuturumuri, and there were long queues as visitors from out of town cast special votes [polling attendants said they came close to running out of voting sheets for the Rongotai electorate in Wellington]. At the Wairarapa Senior Citizens Hall on Masterton’s Cole St, however, people were able to vote in a matter of minutes.
National candidate Mike Butterick was reported as being 732 votes ahead of Wairarapa’s incumbent MP Kieran McAnulty when 5.7 per cent of the vote had been counted within half an hour of polling booths closing at 7pm, and by 7.45pm that margin had increased to 1549 with the vote tally at 17.2 per cent.
For the next few hours, the differential between Butterick and McAnulty bounced around between 1000 and 1300, and although the Labour candidate didn’t ever look like getting a sniff at taking the lead, the party faithful at National’s election night HQ at the Masterton Club remained on tenterhooks – although Butterick was cautiously optimistic by 8.30pm, while observing there was “still a way to go”, at 9pm he was admitting to still being nervous and wishing “things would hurry up”.
But by 9.30pm – when 65.5 per cent of the region’s votes had been tallied – the National candidate was beginning to pull away, with 13,184 versus 11,584 for McAnulty.
At that point, McAnulty could clearly see the writing was on the wall, and he slipped out of the Wairarapa Bush Union Rooms with campaign manager Lyn Patterson to congratulate Butterick on his presumptive win in person – just as Butterick had done in 2020, when Labour’s ‘red tide’ saw McAnulty romp in with a majority of 6545 and 49.7 per cent of the 44,391 valid electorate votes.
After a beer and collegial chat with Butterick, McAnulty made a graceful concession speech to National’s winning candidate and his supporters.
“I think it’s important to acknowledge that you’ve all run an incredibly good campaign and throughout that campaign – and the last one – Mike has demonstrated himself as a genuinely decent person; someone who has earned everyone’s respect,” McAnulty said to warm applause.
“And the one thing I value the most is that Mike has never played the person, he has always stuck to the issues, and he’s never got nasty. And I think it’s a credit to him and the region that none of the candidates in this campaign got nasty. We’ve seen in the media how campaigns have gone into turmoil in other regions, but not here in Wairarapa.
“It’s an incredible privilege being the local MP, and I’m pleased – if I am to lose the job – that it’s going to a guy like Mike.
“So I wanted to acknowledge you in person. Others call, but you turned up last time, I’m here now, and I want to say congratulations. It is a privilege, and I know you’ll do it your best and I’ll support you when I can. Well done.”
Butterick then briefly addressed the crowd, thanking McAnulty for fronting in person, and all the National supporters who worked on the campaign – “a massive effort all the way through the electorate” – with “a special shoutout” for his wife Rachel and campaign manager Steve Olds.
As of 6pm yesterday, the provisional results for the Wairarapa electorate were: Butterick with 17,908; McAnulty, 15,427; Act’s Simon Casey, 1566; NZ Loyal’s Peter Arnott, 1439; Green’s Celia Wade-Brown, 1361; Te Pāti Māori’s Te Whakapono Waikare, 351; and independent Jared Gardner, 191.
National took out 39.52 per cent of the party vote versus Labour’s 27.61 per cent.
At this stage, the preliminary tally of electorate votes cast is 38,615 – 6800 fewer than in 2020 – and it remains to be seen how many special Wairarapa electorate votes were cast.
The Electoral Commission aims to have the official results published on Friday, November 3, while detailed information including allocation of list seats, voting place information, and special vote statistics is expected to be available by Monday, November 27. beginning to pull away, with 13,184 versus 11,584 for McAnulty.
At that point, McAnulty could clearly see the writing was on the wall, and he slipped out of the Wairarapa Bush Union Rooms with campaign manager Lyn Patterson to congratulate Butterick on his presumptive win in person – just as Butterick had done in 2020, when Labour’s ‘red tide’ saw McAnulty romp in with a majority of 6545 and 49.7 per cent of the 44,391 valid electorate votes.
After a beer and collegial chat with Butterick, McAnulty made a graceful concession speech to National’s winning candidate and his supporters.
“I think it’s important to acknowledge that you’ve all run an incredibly good campaign and throughout that campaign – and the last one – Mike has demonstrated himself as a genuinely decent person; someone who has earned everyone’s respect,” McAnulty said to warm applause.
“And the one thing I value the most is that Mike has never played the person, he has always stuck to the issues, and he’s never got nasty. And I think it’s a credit to him and the region that none of the candidates in this campaign got nasty. We’ve seen in the media how campaigns have gone into turmoil in other regions, but not here in Wairarapa.
“It’s an incredible privilege being the local MP, and I’m pleased – if I am to lose the job – that it’s going to a guy like Mike.
“So I wanted to acknowledge you in person. Others call, but you turned up last time, I’m here now, and I want to say congratulations. It is a privilege, and I know you’ll do it your best and I’ll support you when I can. Well done.”
Butterick then briefly addressed the crowd, thanking McAnulty for fronting in person, and all the National supporters who worked on the campaign – “a massive effort all the way through the electorate” – with “a special shoutout” for his wife Rachel and campaign manager Steve Olds.
As of 6pm yesterday, the provisional results for the Wairarapa electorate were: Butterick with 17,908; McAnulty, 15,427; Act’s Simon Casey, 1566; NZ Loyal’s Peter Arnott, 1439; Green’s Celia Wade-Brown, 1361; Te Pāti Māori’s Te Whakapono Waikare, 351; and independent Jared Gardner, 191.
National took out 39.52 per cent of the party vote versus Labour’s 27.61 per cent.
At this stage, the preliminary tally of electorate votes cast is 38,615 – 6800 fewer than in 2020 – and it remains to be seen how many special Wairarapa electorate votes were cast.
The Electoral Commission aims to have the official results published on Friday, November 3, while detailed information including allocation of list seats, voting place information, and special vote statistics is expected to be available by Monday, November 27.
Know to somehow unlock some of these crazy 🤪 regulations put in place that have created so much cost for rate payers and living expenses.