Firstly enrol to vote. You know those guys who are in the van on the corner of Willis and Cuba every weekend? They are your electoral friends. Go see them, or head to the closest post office, online at
www.elections.org.nz. Legally you need to be enrolled to vote. You can get a fine, or even worse if you have political scientist friends you may be castigated and used as an example of why democracy is flawed.
Secondly you need to get some idea about who you want to vote for. Maybe on some voyage of discovery early in your youth, unshackled by the inhibitions of reality, you made the folly of becoming a left-winger. Or perhaps after a troubled childhood, bullied in the playground and possibly suffering from short man syndrome, you reached the conclusion that you were a raging righty. You hopefully have some idea which party most aligns to your internal voice so this is a good place to start.
With MMP you have a plethora of choices. Lefties could vote for Labour, the Greens, Progressives, or Alliance. If you’re a righty you could vote for National, ACT, Kiwi Party or the Libertarianz. If you’re a dirty fencesitter you could vote for United Future. If you’re tangata whenua, or just down for whatever you could vote for the Maori Party. The market for political parties is bloated and even sadomasochists have a dedicated party (Workers’ Party, not yet registered).
Go to their websites. Go to public meetings. If you can make it to the Aro Hall debate you will enjoy it immensely. Read newspapers. Read blogs. Get information about the people and parties who you’re thinking about voting for. Look at their policies. Look at what they have done in the past.
Thirdly just think about it, think think about it.
Fourthly go to the polling booth and vote. In Wellington polling booths are generally no more than a 15 minute walk away. Abstention is an option, but it is way more fun to go and draw pictures on the ballot paper or write your own name on the slip and put a tick next to it.