I get to vote for the first time in NZ. The party names are very confusing. 40 years of Democrats and Republicans is intrenched in my brain so I'm doing a lot of research. WA has always had mail-in voting, so this will be my first time going to a polling place.
@grumpygamer Although the Free Palestine party is what it sounds like, unlike its namesake in Victoria. #NZPol #aupol
@grumpygamer it took me 3 hours to go top to bottom on the ballot. I had to do a full OSINT sweep on every candidate. bunch of sneaky fuckers hiding out in places where party isnt listed.
@grumpygamer Do Kiwi polling places have democracy sausages like Aussie ones? I don’t think I’ve ever learned if that’s a common cultural thing or not.
@vampiress @grumpygamer No. And it's a damn shame.
@vampiress @grumpygamer TIL about democracy sausage. Thank you!
@grumpygamer have fun, Ron!!
Nov 3, 2026, 8:36 AM@grumpygamer I still feel like the Liberal party in Australia needs to be completely renamed. 'The Corporatist Party' or something. It trips up yanks all the time - iirc, during Trump 1, he gave our PM the cold shoulder thinking he was from the other side of politics.
@grumpygamer I hope you're really enjoying New Zealand. I lived there for two and a half years, and to me it's still the most beautiful country in the world.
@grumpygamer whoever you vote for, you get a politician. Their job is no longer "govern wisely", but "get re-elected".
For important elections in Germany (Europe, National) some independent institution reads the programmes of all parties - phrase questions into a "Wahl-o-mat" webpage. You answer yes/no/who-cares. You can also mark questions as important for you.
After going through they give a you a list which fits best and least, like 'Nazi party' is not for you.