At Large with Toby Manhire

With the numbers of young people registered to vote at less than two-thirds, and an enrolment period coming to a close a fortnight earlier than recent elections, there is cause for serious concern, says Professor Andrew Geddis, electoral law expert from the University of Otago. We asked you for your questions about the voting process – the rules, the rorts, the practicalities, and here Geddis answers them.Other questions include:

What does “splitting your vote” mean and when should someone think about doing it?

What is the “overhang strategy”, and what impact will there be if it works?

How does the “overhang” work?

What’s the deal with large anonymous donations?

Should we move to a fairer voting system within electorates?

What happens if there is a dead heat in the seats won by each bloc and neither can achieve a majority in parliament?

What happens if a party doesn’t have enough names on its list to fill the seats it’s entitled to?

How do you vote if you’re bed-bound?

How do you vote if you turn 18 after enrolment closes on October 25?

Would the Professor be known as “Geddo” if he had a similar profile in Australia?

Plus: Tara Ward says forget Florence Pugh: the real star of East of Eden is north of Dunedin.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠.
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In a campaign that sometimes feels like wading through wet cement, James Nokise is attempting the Everest of stand-up challenges – finding the comedy in the election. He’s doing 33 shows from one end of the country to the other as One Night Rant, riffing on the headlines of the day and the questions the audiences ask. He joins Toby to tell us how it’s going so far. What do people think of their politicians? Should those politicians be funnier? And what is the state of political comedy in Aotearoa today?

At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠.
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The influence and ethics of political lobbying is under the spotlight in the 2026 campaign. What do lobbyists really do, what rules do they play by, and why has NZ failed time after time to do anything to tame the sinister stuff? Holly Bennett, founder and managing director of of Awhi, a kaupapa Māori government relations and communications firm in Auckland, joins Toby to talk it all through.Plus, in How Good, Alice Neville on canned margarita, and why the Mighty Mighty was judged the mightiest of them all.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠.
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In the face of a slump in youth enrolment and a campaign that is leaving many people cold or curled up cringing, an army of independent outfits are prodding the cattle and driving engagement – some of them are telling us how to vote.Today we look at the enrolment insurgents including the Ellie Commission and On a Roll, and the tools designed to help you work out which party to vote for, such as Policy, On the Fence and Vote Compass, and talk to two of the people behind those efforts: Shanti Mathias from Policy.nz and Jean Donaldson from On the Fence.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠.
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Three MPs, one party leader and two first-timers met last night at the Spinoff Great Mt Albert Debate. Toby Manhire is joined for a postmortem by Hayden Donnell and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith to assess the highs and lows from a fast-paced and fiery encounter featuring Labour candidate Helen White, who won the seat last time by 18 votes, Melissa Lee of National, the Greens’ Ricardo Menéndez March, Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong, Alex Price of the Act Party and NZ First’s Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri.Watch the debate in full here: https://youtu.be/LZO7gu6rhQgAt Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠.
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