Eligibility of voters
The Lawyer made this Official Information request to Electoral Commission
The request was successful.
From: The Lawyer
Dear Electoral Commission,
I understand that the enrolment form to register on the electoral roll does not ask enrolees to verify or confirm their residency or citizenship status, and thus their eligibility to vote in New Zealand elections.
Please outline:
1) Whether the Electoral Commission proactively cross references new and current enrolments with citizenship and residency data held by the Department of Internal Affairs, in line with the requirements of s263B of the Electoral Act 1993.
2) If the answer to the above is no, what steps does the Commission take to ensure the integrity of the voting system is only open to those who are eligible to vote?
3) if the answer to question 1 is yes, how many enrolments have been deemed ineligible due to not meeting the requirements to enrol to vote?
4) If the section (s 263B) referred to in question 1 is incorrect, please outline what section of the Electoral Act is utilised by the Commission to cross reference enrolment information with eligibility to vote using information held by the Department of Internal Affairs?
4) What other measures are taken by the Commission to ensure that new and current enrolees remain eligible to vote, which does not include the regular system of sending letters to last known addresses of enrolled voters?
Please limit responses to information on enrolments since 1 January 2008 to the present day.
Yours faithfully,
AJ Stephen
From: Public Enquiries
Kia ora AJ Stephen
Thank you for your request.
I am acknowledging receipt of your Official Information Act request ‘1)
Whether the Electoral Commission proactively cross references new and
current enrolments with citizenship and residency data held by the
Department of Internal Affairs, in line with the requirements of s263B of
the Electoral Act 1993. 2) If the answer to the above is no, what steps
does the Commission take to ensure the integrity of the voting system is
only open to those who are eligible to vote? 3) If the answer to question
1 is yes, how many enrolments have been deemed ineligible due to not
meeting the requirements to enrol to vote? 4) If the section (s 263B)
referred to in question 1 is incorrect, please outline what section of the
Electoral Act is utilised by the Commission to cross reference enrolment
information with eligibility to vote using information held by the
Department of Internal Affairs? 5) What other measures are taken by the
Commission to ensure that new and current enrolees remain eligible to
vote, which does not include the regular system of sending letters to last
known addresses of enrolled voters? Limiting responses to information on
enrolments since 1 January 2008 to the present day’, received 11 May 2018.
Under the Official Information Act, we have 20 working days for response.
Ngā mihi
Electoral Commission | Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri
PO Box 3220 | Level 10, 34 – 42 Manners Street | Wellington | 6140 | New
Zealand
Phone +64 4 495 0030 | Fax +64 4 495 0031 | [1]http://www.elections.org.nz
[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D3CB3D.05D75CC0
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From: Kristina Temel
Dear AJ Stephen,
A response to your OIA request is attached.
Kind regards
Kristina Temel
Electoral Commission
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From: The Lawyer
Dear Kristina Temel,
Thank you for your response. However I note that no reference was made as to whether the data matching is "proactive" or no as stated in my original request.
Could you therefore confirm whether such data matching is proactive please.
Yours sincerely,
AJ Stephen
From: Kristina Temel
Dear AJ Stephen,
Apologies. The datamatching under section 263A of the Electoral Act happens on a continuous basis. The Electoral Commission receives a daily file from the Secretary of Labour which means we can check the roll and every new application against the list provided.
I hope this answers your question. If not, let me know.
Kind regards
Kristina Temel
Electoral Commission
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