As I write, 611 of you have voted in my first flag poll. (Yes, it’s still going, and there will be more polls to test other options.)
From the start of polling, the result ratios have remained much the same, with 28% (169 votes) favouring the most traditional of the six Ansell/Wang fern options, the red stars on blue.
Next is the classic black with 24% (148), followed by the two large-fern-over-split-colour designs: the green and blue with 23% (139), and the red and black with 18% (112 votes).
Two things surprised me about the poll.
First, that the voting pattern didn’t change when Trevor Mallard’s Red Alert voters came on board. I thought more lefties would mean more votes for the Maori and green colourschemes, but no.
And I’m surprised that the green design hasn’t got more than 7 votes (1%).
I’d thought it would be a contender, given that my much more crudely-drawn version of a green flag came second out of 600 entries in the 1991 Listener competition.
One reason may be that I chose too bright a green. I didn’t realise the problem until I saw the flag on my stepson’s screen, where it’s positively fluorescent. I might try a darker green and see if the pattern still holds.
Although the blue is not my preferred option (and neither is green), I should do it justice by including three variations I’ve thought of since.
The last one is closer to the layout of the Southern Cross…
Variant 1: angled stars close to fern.
On second thoughts, the right-hand star in my original design may have been too far to the right.
Variant 2: upright stars close to fern.
A similar configuration, but with the stars now upright.
Variant 3: upright Southern Cross layout.
A more traditional layout closer to the arrangement on the current flag.
In my next post, I’m going to merge the winning two designs from the poll and see if you think that’s a good compromise.
Then after that, I’ll show you some other variants – including the one I prefer!
Thanks for taking part in the poll. I’ll keep it going, and add other polls as fresh options emerge.
Please direct other flag-changers to the site and keep the feedback coming.
John Ansell 
I’m no statistician (ask someone like DPF), but I’d guess with those poll numbers that the margin of error is around 6% or so? In which case, the top 3 choices should all still be considered.
Interesting results, though. Especially regarding the ones that didn’t rate that highly.
I agree about the margin of error, and of course the participants were self-selecting and probably not representative of the population.
But it was interesting that neither the order nor the percentages changed by more than the odd percent from the first hundred to the sixth.