Comments by "Laurence Fraser" (@laurencefraser) on "New Zealand's Ardern postpones election as coronavirus flares up" video.

  1. I invite you to look into Tom Scott's video on why E-voting (and, for that matter, electronic voting machines) is a terrible idea at the best of times. As for technology and campagning, it runs into the echo-chamber problem: only the people who already support you see your message. In person, giving speeches, participating in debates, attending local meetings and answering questions and such, That gets more neutral people to actually consider you. (I know one such meeting was the only reason I had even heard of a candidate i ended up voting for in that election prior to getting to the polling booth, for example.) Mind you,New Zealand is perfectly Capable of safely holding an election under COVID-19 alert level 2 conditions if it needs to. With a bit of a run-up it's probably quite possible to carry out an election under level 3 as well (entirely by mail in ballot). Campaigning, on the other hand, is a bit awkward under level 2 and highly restricted (just as a side effect of the regular restrictions) under level 3. (For reference, level 4 is full lockdown and level 1 is almost entirely business as usual if you're not trying to cross the border.)
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  2. Yes, delaying them a few weeks to allow time to actually conduct proper campaigns in the lead up to them, which works in favour of her Opponents, because said opponents requested such and went on record saying that not doing so would be unfair is the same as canceling them. good job.
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  3.  @Stephensouraski  same way anyone else does? Just because you run out of land before you hit the edge of a nation's territory in every direction rather than just one or two (or none) doesn't men there aren't borders, it just changes the practicalities of crossing and controlling them. Also, New Zealand isn't a single island anymore than Japan or the Philippines are.
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  4. They're only Required to hold an election after 3 years anyway. Usual practice is to dissolve parliament earlier than necessary relative to the election date, then have the election earlier than necessary compared the the maximum term length date. Both can consequently be pushed back a bit without issue.
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