This article was first published on RNZ.
Te Pāti Māori has accused the Electoral Commission of “voter suppression” after correspondence with the commission failed to address the “real issue” around Māori enrolment complaints.
But, the commission says the enrolment processes it follows are long standing and set out in the Electoral Act.
RNZ has heard from multiple people who claim their electoral details had been altered or erased, including Taryn Utiger, who told RNZ she was moved to the dormant roll despite only recently speaking with the commission.
In a media release, Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the commission was blaming voters being moved onto the dormant roll as the reason for the complaints.
Ngarewa-Packer said the commission could “dress it up however they want” but whānau being moved off the main roll without consent was an attack on “our mana and our rights”.
“We’ve got kaumātua who’ve lived in the same whare all their lives, never missed a vote, and never had a knock on the door, a text, an email - nothing.
“This is not a mistake. It’s voter suppression,” she claimed.
Te Pāti Māori is pursuing a two-pronged legal action into matter, looking to the commission’s calculation of the Māori electoral population and reports of missing enrolments from the Māori roll.
Labour has also asked the Auditor-General to look into the issue.
Te Pāti Māori say they want an urgent briefing with the commission, an urgent inquiry into the enrolment system and the scale of “deregistration” affecting Māori and Pasifika communities.
Waititi said if the party was not satisfied with the commission’s response, it will begin lobbying the government for a Royal Commission of Inquiry
“Our tīpuna fought to have the right to vote, we will not stand by while Māori are quietly scrubbed from the roll,” he said.
The Electoral Commission has repeatedly rejected claims it had tampered with people’s enrolment details without their consent and insisted it found no faults with its online system.
Speaking to RNZ earlier this month chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne said the “auto-fill” feature on some people’s mobile phones and laptops could be the reason why their records were not showing up on the website.
In a statement to RNZ, Le Quesne encouraged people to reach out to the commission directly if they were still experiencing issues.
“The enrolment processes we follow are long standing and are set out in the Electoral Act. They apply to both the general and the Māori rolls.
“Under the Electoral Act, if we lose touch with a voter, for example if we get returned mail from an old address, we will try to contact the person by text or email. If we can’t make contact, the person is moved onto the dormant roll until they update their address with us. Since the last general election, we have sent 139,036 emails and 152,794 texts to people whose details were out of date,” he said.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith declined to comment.
By Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira of RNZ.
