Labour is putting extra effort into ensuring people are enrolled to vote this election, with one of its MPs accusing the coalition of having an "evil agenda" to disallow its opponents' ballots.
By Craig McCulloch of RNZ
Under new changes by the Government, voters will no longer be able to enrol on election day or in the advance voting period, a move Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said was necessary to speed up the final vote count.
Senior Labour MP Damien O'Connor said the coalition was trying to "cut out and eliminate" the votes of poorer, more transient people.
"Absolute bulls***," he told reporters on Tuesday. "It's quite an evil agenda from the right, as we're seeing around the world, that's just been brought into the New Zealand democracy, and it is an outrage."
O'Connor said the enrolment changes were "undermining basic democracy" and suggested ministers were out of touch for saying voters should be aware of their obligations.
"If you're getting driven around in limousines and everyone's running around after you, that might be the case," O'Connor said.
"If you're an average Kiwi at the moment, facing the cost of living and struggling to get the basics done, you probably don't have time to do it."
Labour's campaign chair Kieran McAnulty said his team was helping people to enrol at local markets in Wairarapa, saying many were not aware their details could be out of date if they had recently moved house.
He said the electoral law changes could have a "massive" impact on the election result given tight polling, especially if as many as 400,000 people had their ballots voided.
"Most of these people probably won't vote for this Government, and they know that. That's why they're changing the rules, and I think that stinks."
McAnulty later dialled back his comments, saying he had misspoken when accusing the Government of intentionally trying to disenfranchise voters. He said, however, that that could be an outcome of the law change.
At the last election, around 450,000 people either enrolled or updated their enrolment details during the advance voting period.
New Zealand voters have been able to do that for decades. That ability was extended to also include election day itself in advance of the 2020 election.
The Electoral Commission previously estimated about 55,000 party votes and 73,000 electorate votes could be disallowed this year, due to a lack of enrolment.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins reignited the debate on Monday afternoon, telling reporters the Electoral Commission was not doing a good enough job ensuring people were on the electoral roll. In response, Goldsmith issued a statement, saying the change was necessary to ensure the final vote count was not further delayed.
"Late enrolments have placed too much strain on the system. The final vote count used to take two weeks; last election it took three. If we left things as they were, it would likely take even longer," he said.
"It seems odd for [Hipkins] to suggest his own voters are inherently more disorganised."
Speaking to RNZ on Wednesday, Goldsmith said people had "plenty of time" to get enrolled. He said he had "every confidence" the Electoral Commission had the necessary funds and capability to run a campaign encouraging people to enrol.
National's campaign chair Simeon Brown said its volunteers were also carrying enrolment forms when door-knocking.
"People know that they need to enrol to vote," he said. "There'll be an advertising campaign run by the Electoral Commission. There's plenty of opportunity for people to enrol. Plenty of time."
In a statement, the Electoral Commission said it was focused on ensuring New Zealanders were enrolled and had updated their details by midnight on October 25.
It was important for people to update their address if they had moved house or had any other changes, the commission said.
"Our enrolment rate has risen steadily ... in 2023, the final enrolment rate was 94.7%. In 2023, 83.9% of 18-29-years-old were enrolled to vote, up from 80.7% in 2020.
"This year we will be reminding people through a mix of digital and postal communications as well as nationwide advertising through a range of media to reach people who are not yet enrolled."
The commission said its community education fund continued to provide small grants to local organisations to encourage communities to enrol, and since its Māori roll campaign began, 18,571 people had updated their details and 6426 had enrolled.
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