Ma¯ori electorate option available

The chance for Kiwis to switch to the Ma¯ori roll is approaching and it comes after broadcaster Mike Hosking incorrectly said last year that you had to be on the Ma¯ori roll to vote for the Ma¯ori Party.

From April 3 to August 2 New Zealanders have the opportunity to choose between being on the Ma¯ori roll or the general roll.

Depending on the number of people who switch and the results of the 2018 census, the number of Ma¯ori seats could increase, decrease or stay the same.

There are currently seven Ma¯ori seats in Parliament – the Labour Party hold all of them after Ma¯ori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell lost the Waiariki seat at the election, which led to the party exiting Parliament altogether.

In August, in the build-up to the election, Hosking asked his thenco-presenter Toni Street if her issue with TVNZ’s online political tool was ‘‘the fact you can’t vote for the Ma¯ori Party, because you’re not enrolled in the Ma¯ori electorate?’’

After the comments Flavell questioned whether the TVNZ presenter should be allowed to moderate political debates, describing the comments as a ‘‘major blunder’’.

TVNZ agreed the comments were ‘‘inaccurate’’.

Key messages

The Electoral Commission’s national manager of engagement, Mandy Bohte, said one of the key messages of the campaign around the Ma¯ori electoral option was that ‘‘regardless of what roll you’re on, you can still vote for each and every party on the list’’.

‘‘I think that’s why that’s one of our key messages in this campaign,’’ she said in response to whether it was difficult to counter comments like those made by Hosking.

She went on to clarify that the key message wasn’t as a ‘‘result of what happened with the Hosking stuff’’, instead saying it was always an important message that needed to be delivered.

The Ma¯ori electoral option was launched at the Tai Tokerau Kapa Haka festival on Saturday and with advertising and a face-to-face campaign kicking off yesterday.

Over the next four months Electoral Commission teams will be at community events, hui, sporting and cultural events to spread the message about the Ma¯ori roll.

For the first time those who do fill out a form don’t have to rely on posting it back – instead uploading a photo of the form, or emailing it are all options in addition to posting it.

Once a voter makes a decision about what roll they want to be on, that is the roll they will remain on for the next two general elections.