Several of the government’s proposed changes to electoral law in the Electoral Amendment Bill will undermine the right to vote for some of our citizens as set out in the New Zealand Bill of Rights. They are likely to adversely affect specific groups of voters. This is unacceptable.
At a time when voter cynicism is on the rise and trust in political processes is in decline, we must support and encourage people to exercise this fundamental right, not make it difficult or impossible.
The rationales of timeliness of results and whether or not people are fit to vote are poor excuses when the outcome will be restricting democratic participation and breaching human rights.
Every New Zealand citizen who is of or over the age of 18 years—
(a) has the right to vote in genuine periodic elections of members of the House of Representatives, which elections shall be by equal suffrage and by secret ballot;... (NZ Bill of Rights Act – NZBORA)
Registration to Vote
Since 1993, citizens have been able to register at any time up to and, since 2019, on polling day (with a few exceptions). The government is proposing a voter registration deadline of at least 13 days prior to polling day to be eligible for voting, applicable from the 2026 general election.
The government claims this helps address delays in the vote counting. The second and frankly disrespectful reason criticises electors who (for many reasons) are not registered before election day.
The Attorney-General has been very clear that this element of the Amendment Bill is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act in several respects.
Who does this change impact most?
If passed this clause would specifically adversely impact:
- Harder to reach populations who have lower enrolment/voting rates such as Pasifika Asian, Māori and disabled individuals.
- Those more likely to vote closer to election day, such as young voters and first time voters.
- People returning from overseas after being away for an extended time.
- People who may become New Zealand residents but not within the 13 days.
- People who have been released from prison within the 13-day period
- Those who have not updated their address records will have their electorate vote disallowed.
- Overseas voters whose registrations don’t meet the deadline.
The number who could be disenfranchised would be substantial. The Electoral Commission report on the election noted that:
“More than 600,000 enrolments or updates happened after writ day, including 450,000 during the voting period, of which 110,000 occurred on election day. The Attorney-General notes that over 97,000 people registered for the first time during the voting period, and nearly 134,000 people changed electoral districts during the voting period.”
The Electoral Commission made suggestions in its report to the Select Committee Inquiry into the 2023 Election about how to improve timeliness and efficiency, and some of these recommendations are included in the Electoral Amendment Bill. The Electoral Commission did not propose shifting the deadline for registering. The Ministry of Justice, in its Regulatory Impact Statement, has recommended this option not be taken and favours alternative long-term solutions.
Globally voting percentages have dropped by around 10 percentage points since the 1960s. New Zealand sits at about 25th in the world on non-compulsory voter turnout.
After the low turnout in 2014, strenuous and successful efforts were made, ahead of the 2017 and 2020 elections, to encourage enrolment and voting by improving accessibility and visibility. That included changes to the Electoral Act in 2016, to enable election day enrolment, the earlier counting of advance votes and more accessible enrolment forms.
Prisoner Voting
The Government also proposes a blanket removal of the right of prisoners to register to vote. The Attorney General says that the law would result in irrational disenfranchisement and ‘double punishment’, both of which would place it in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. The general issue of prisoner rights to vote has already been tested by the courts, which found in favour of the NZBORA.
Increasing threshold for donor anonymity
Tucked in amongst the proposed changes is a proposal to increase the threshold for reporting the names of party donors from $5,000 to $6,000. The Government’s justification for this is “to account for inflation”, which the USA has applied to its political donations. However, for anonymous donations the USA threshold is USD$200. For any donations above that the parties must provide donor names, addresses, occupations and employer information, which then become public record freely available and tracked by the Federal Election Commission.
TINZ, along with other organisations including Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Helen Clark Foundation want more transparency on political donations, not less.
Bribery
The Amendment Bill also proposes a change to the current offence of bribery in the Electoral Act to describe two bribery offences to give any money to, or procure any benefit for, a voter to induce the voter to, inter alia, vote or refrain from voting or exercise or not exercise the Māori option (and in Clause 43(2)(e) in relation to candidate/s.
Whilst we definitely oppose vote buying, there is already a clause in the current Act that addresses this, and which may be tested in the courts.
The Attorney-General has advised that if this goes through ordinary electoral support could be captured - such as someone giving a lift to or from the polling station, or making donations to a candidate’s campaign to help get them elected.
Other changes
Other changes recommended by the Electoral Commission are more focussed on electoral processes than on political rhetoric and more practical. These include removing requirements for enrolment processes to be done by post, updating information-sharing agreements to include digital contact details, and no longer collecting unnecessary enrolment information such as occupation and honorifics.
We want to see political leaders enhancing New Zealand’s reputation as a representative democracy, not undermining it. Efforts since the 2014 low turnout have resulted in more people voting and we should maintain that engagement, managing the challenges through careful and considered innovation.
