The party says it became aware of two separate issues after a member of the public reported being unable to complete an enrolment through the Enrol to Vote platform.
Following further enquiries by Te Pāti Māori, a second issue was identified when RealMe verification services also appeared to be unavailable.
According to the party, the Electoral Commission later confirmed there had been disruptions affecting passport verification and RealMe identity services. RealMe is the Government’s online identity verification service, which can be used to verify a person’s identity when completing enrolment transactions online.
The Māori Electoral Option, which closes on 6 August, allows eligible Māori voters to choose whether they are enrolled on the Māori roll or the general roll. The choice determines which electorate they vote in and contributes to the number of Māori electorates.
The latest Electoral Commission figures illustrate the scale of the option process.
Separate Māori Electoral Option statistics show almost 10,000 people changed between the Māori roll and the general roll during the three months to 1 July.
During that period, 4,674 people moved from the general roll to the Māori roll, while 5,078 moved from the Māori roll to the general roll — a net movement of 404 voters to the general roll.
The same statistics also record 3,303 enrolments onto the Māori roll during the quarter, compared with 2,054 enrolments onto the general roll.
Monthly enrolment figures show the number of enrolled voters on both rolls continued to increase in the lead-up to the deadline.
Between 1 June and 1 July, the number of people enrolled on the Māori roll increased by 313, while enrolment on the general roll increased by 77 — a combined increase of 390 enrolled voters.
The broader trend shows Māori enrolment rose steadily during the first four months of the year.
Between 7 January and 1 April, the number enrolled on the Māori roll increased by 1,333, while the number of Māori enrolled on the general roll increased by 350.
The figures declined in May and fell more substantially in the June release.
However, that coincided with a significant change to the Electoral Commission’s estimated eligible population and should not necessarily be interpreted as thousands of Māori actively leaving the electoral rolls.
As at 1 July, 302,096 Māori were enrolled on the Māori roll and 255,627 on the general roll, meaning around 54.2 percent of enrolled Māori voters were on the Māori roll and 45.8 percent on the general roll.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi says any barrier to enrolment during the option period is unacceptable.
“This is not just a technical issue. This is about the ability of our people to exercise their democratic rights,” Waititi said.
“Whānau attempting to enrol or change rolls should not be met with error messages, unavailable verification systems, or uncertainty about whether they can complete the process.”
The party is also questioning how the disruption was communicated.
“The responsibility sits with government agencies to ensure voting services are accessible, reliable and available to everyone. Māori participation in democracy should never be compromised by system failures,” Waititi said.
Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne said the passport and RealMe verification services, operated by the Department of Internal Affairs, were unavailable during planned maintenance over the weekend, with passport verification unavailable from 10 pm Saturday until 2.30 pm Sunday and RealMe verified identity unavailable from 7 am to 6 pm Sunday.
“At all times, people could still use their New Zealand driver licence to enrol, update their details, or change rolls online. There are also options for people to enrol or change rolls without ID,” he said.
Le Quesne said banners were displayed within the online enrolment system to notify people attempting to use passport or RealMe verification during the maintenance period. A notice was also added to the vote.nz and elections.nz homepages on Sunday morning.
“We acknowledge the inconvenience for people who wanted to use the passport, or RealMe verified identity options during these times. The deadline to change rolls is midnight 6 August, so there is still time for people to update their details. We have advertising reminding people when they need to do this by.”
Le Quesne said the Electoral Commission was notified of the Department of Internal Affairs’ planned maintenance on 27 July, allowing it to prepare notices for users of the online enrolment system.
“We will be looking at how we can strengthen our communications to people visiting the website. We will also continue to work with our suppliers and other government agencies to find the best times to schedule maintenance.”
