November 06, 2023
Missed deadline sowed election day confusion
The Chief Electoral Officer says much of the confusion for Māori in polling booths on election day was because they missed the deadline for switching between electoral rolls.
Karl Le Quesne says Māori had the option of switching between the Māori and general rolls from the end of March to July 13.
In that time 14,587 changed roll types – 8,109 from the general roll to the Māori roll, and 6,478 from the Māori roll to the general roll.
The option was then suspended for the three months before the election.
“So from 14 July Māori voters who wanted to change rolls couldn’t – we got 19,000 applications from the 14 July to election day to try to change rolls so we think that may have caused some confusion for people around what electorate they were in,” Mr Le Quesne says.
The Māori roll increased overall to 290,300, and the number of Maori on the general roll also increased to 276,712.
Voter turnout to the Māori electorates was 68 percent compared to 69.1 percent in 2020.