From:
Natalie
To:
Clare
; Suzanne Knight-Tinirau
Cc:
Karl Le Quesne; Suzanne Knight-Tinirau; Anusha Guler; Kristina Temel; Leigh Deuchars; Hanna
Subject:
RE: ACT website complaint
Date:
Friday, 3 October 2025 2:29:02 pm
Attachments:
image001.png
A couple of minor suggestions for the media response so the response is all together:
MEDIA – our response
We provide information on our website about how and when to enrol for the local elections. The Electoral
Commission does not run or oversee local elections, so we don’t provide information on the conduct of the
elections or polls on our own website.
We advise people to contact their own council for more information. To make it easier for people, we provided
links to external sites with lists of council websites and maps, contact details for electoral officers, and a list of
councils holding polls.
We have had a very small number of complaints about one of the links. Erring on the side of caution, we have
taken the links down.
Natalie
From: Clare
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Sent: Friday, 3 October 2025 2:07 pm
To: Natalie
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Subject: FW: ACT website complaint
From: Leigh Deuchars <
@elections.govt.nz>
Sent: Friday, 3 October 2025 2:05 pm
To: Clare
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Karl Le Quesne <
@elections.govt.nz>; Suzanne
Knight-Tinirau <
@elections.govt.nz>; Kristina Temel <
@elections.govt.nz>;
Anusha Guler <
@elections.govt.nz>
Cc: Jarrod
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Hanna
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Subject: RE: ACT website complaint
Have forwarded
From: Clare
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Sent: Friday, 3 October 2025 2:04 pm
To: Leigh Deuchars <
@elections.govt.nz>; Karl Le Quesne <
@elections.govt.nz>; Suzanne
Knight-Tinirau <
@elections.govt.nz>; Kristina Temel <
@elections.govt.nz>;
Anusha Guler <
@elections.govt.nz>
Cc: Jarrod
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Hanna
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Subject: RE: ACT website complaint
Hi everyone
Bullet points below.
MEDIA – our response
We provide information on our website about how and when to enrol for the local elections. The Electoral
Commission does not run or oversee local elections, so for more information on council elections, we advise
people to contact their council directly.
To make it easier for people to contact their council, we provided links to external sites with lists of council
websites and maps, contact details for electoral officers, and a list of councils holding polls.
We have had a small number of complaints about the links. Erring on the side of caution, we have taken the
links down.
Should the Electoral Commission provide information on Māori ward polls?
The Electoral Commission does not run or oversee local elections, so we don’t provide information on the
conduct of the elections or polls on our own website.
Media - For the Minister – Leigh to provide
Does the Minister think it is acceptable for the EC to link to materials that appear to be attempting to
influence voters?
The Electoral Commission does not run or oversee local elections. They receive a lot of questions about the
local elections that they can’t answer, so to make it easier for people to access information about the elections,
they provided links to external sites with lists of council websites and maps, contact details for electoral
officers, and a list of councils holding polls. They have taken those links down. People wanting information on
the local elections should contact their local council or check their voting papers.
Should the Electoral Commission provide information on Māori ward polls?
The Electoral Commission does not run or oversee local elections, so they don’t provide information on the
conduct of the elections or polls on their own website.
Additional background for stakeholders
The LGNZ and the LGNZ and Taituarā websites are the only websites where you can find a full list of councils
and their contact details.
We have included links to the votelocal.co.nz website in previous local elections because it is helpful for voters,
especially in the early stages of the local elections when there is not much information available from councils.
People often don’t know which council area they are in or how to contact their council.
We received a complaint from one member of the public in August. We felt making the information on councils
and their contact details easily accessible was important, so we kept the links up at that point.
Now it’s been raised again, we have reconsidered and have erred on the side of caution and removed the links.
People wanting information on the local elections will need to contact their council or check their voting pack.
Clare
From: Leigh Deuchars <
@elections.govt.nz>
Sent: Friday, 3 October 2025 11:07 am
To: Karl Le Quesne <
@elections.govt.nz>; Clare
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Suzanne
Knight-Tinirau <
@elections.govt.nz>; Kristina Temel <
@elections.govt.nz>
Cc: Jarrod
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Hanna
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Subject: RE: ACT website complaint
Importance: High
Thanks Clare. I have had OAG contact me with a few questions. Who is the right person in comms for me to get
a bit more background from?
From: Karl Le Quesne <
@elections.govt.nz>
Sent: Thursday, 2 October 2025 9:37 pm
To: Clare
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Suzanne Knight-Tinirau <
@elections.govt.nz>; Kristina Temel <
@elections.govt.nz>
Cc: Jarrod
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Hanna
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Leigh
Deuchars <
@elections.govt.nz>
Subject: Re: ACT website complaint
Thanks Clare
Let's discuss in the morning the substance of the allegation and how we respond.
Karl
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Clare
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2025 8:43:58 PM
To: Karl Le Quesne <
@elections.govt.nz>; Suzanne Knight-Tinirau <
@elections.govt.nz>
Cc: Jarrod
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Hanna
<
@elections.govt.nz>
Subject: ACT website complaint
Kia ora Karl
So you are aware, ACT has made a post on X tonight saying it has complained to the Auditor General about a link
we include in our vote.nz information on local elections. This is a link to the LGNZ and Taituarā website which
has a list of councils holding Māori ward polls.
Link to ACT post: ACT New Zealand on X: "Why is the Electoral Commission promoting pro-Māori wards
messages on its website? https://t.co/7f92rKbSUB" / X
We will let you know if we have any media enquiries or are tagged and asked for a response on social media. We
recently had a public enquiry about this and could provide a similar response if required along these lines:
The Electoral Commission does not run or oversee local elections. We provide information on our website about
how and when to enrol for the local elections. For more information on council elections, we advise people to
contact their council. It's impractical for us to provide contact information for every council, so we have
provided links to external websites with lists of council websites and maps, contact details for electoral officers,
and a list of councils holding polls. The links are clearly marked as external websites, and we are not
responsible for the information they hold.
Clare
Clare
(she/her) | Senior Media and Communications Advisor |
Electoral Commission |
Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri |
PO Box 3220 | Level 4, 34-42 Manners St, Wellington | Phone
| Mobile
| vote.nz |
elections.nz
