We kept our ones as souvenirs. You might have thought the hand sanitizer at every polling station would have been ample, but no doubt these were seen as a good way of boosting the Jacinda government’s winning ‘fear factor.’

Taxpayers footed a bill of more than $730,000 for the single-use ballot pens used during this year’s historic election.

Over fears sharing pens at voting booths could increase possible transmission of Covid-19, 3.6 million pens were supplied by the Electoral Commission.

The plastic 14cm [5.5″] pens, that came without any messaging or even a cap, were made in China and freight cost $284,000 to bring them to New Zealand.

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