22 May 2025
B White
By email to:
[FYI request #30870 email]
Dear B White
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT REQUEST 2025/27
On 30 April 2025 you made a request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA) for the
following information:
It has been recently announced that Cabinet has agreed to reinstate a total ban on prisoners
voting in general elections.
Please provide any correspondence and/or papers the Commission has had with the current
Cabinet on this matter.
Please also provide any internal reports / papers / correspondence that the Commission has
prepared on this matter.
Please find answers to your questions below:
Please provide any correspondence and/or papers the Commission has had with the current Cabinet
on this matter.
The Electoral Commission does not hold any correspondence with Cabinet on this matter. It is the
role of the Ministry of Justice to develop and provide advice on justice matters to Ministers and
Cabinet, and the Ministry is responsible for papers on this matter.
The Ministry of Justice proactively releases all Cabinet papers and related material. Please find the
attached paper – Proactive-Release-Prisoner-Voting_FINAL.pdf. This document contains the briefing
paper on this matter and Paper 4 – Cabinet Paper – Disqualification and sentenced prisoners. You
can also find these papers on the Ministry of Justice’s web
site here. Please also provide any internal reports / papers / correspondence that the Commission has prepared
on this matter.
Please find attached all internal correspondence relating to this matter.
Some contact details, such as phone numbers, some email addresses, and names, have been withheld
under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA which relates to the privacy of natural persons. In each case where
redactions have been made under section 9(2)(a), consideration has been given to, and I am satisfied
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030
www.vote.nz | www.elections.nz
that the reasons for withholding of the information are not outweighed by other considerations which
render it desirable in the public interest to make that information available.
In the interests of transparency, we release responses to Official Information Act requests every 3
months. We will publish this response with your personal details redacted.
You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act to make a complaint to the Ombudsman if you are
not satisfied with the response to your request. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Kristina Temel
Manager, Legal Regulation and Policy
Electoral Commission
Level 4, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030
www.vote.nz | www.elections.nz
