Voting changes mooted for next general election
The Electoral Commission wants to make voting easier and increase turnout by making changes to enrolment – but it is taking a hands-off approach to donations.
It is proposing to change the registration process to allow people to enrol and vote on same day, to streamline voting overseas and to move away from Real Me identification in favour of passports and driver licences.
Other legislative recommendations include enabling the special vote declaration to be treated as an application to enrol; counting the votes of any advance voter who dies before election day; updating voter’s details using information provided by other government agencies; and increasing the frequency for enrolled electors of Maori descent to exercise their option.
However, when it comes to donations, the commission believes that is a job for politicians to decide.
Commission board chairman Sir Hugh Williams and chief electoral officer Alicia Wright made the recommendations to the justice select committee on Thursday.
Electoral law and donations have recently been in the spotlight after MP Jami-Lee Ross released a tape of himself and National Party leader Simon Bridges discussing a $100,000 donation, which Ross claimed was split into smaller parts so it could remain anonymous.
On Thursday, the Green Party reiterated a call for change after the National Party pulled in more than $3.5 million in anonymous donations in 2017, with other parties recording no donations protected from disclosure.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the documents showed why New Zealand urgently needed donations reform and called for anonymity to be maintained only for donations under $1000.
This week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was open to taxpayer funding for political parties if there was public appetite for it and reaffirmed her support for enrolling on the day of voting.
Williams told the select committee the question of donations was a hot topic but from an electoral administrative view, the current regime was workable.
‘‘If Parliament wishes to adjust the threshold, we will assist with advice but we regard that as the policy issue for the politicians.’’
Wright said ensuring donation and campaign laws rules were fit for purpose was a matter for Parliament to consider.
It was important the public had confidence in the system and if it was suggested that donations were part of an inquiry, the commission would be happy to provide advice as required, she said.
Williams said the number of people enrolled had slowly decreased at each election and more work needed to be done.
Of particular concern were potential voters aged 18 to 29 years and that ‘‘wedge of uninterested, unenrolled, non-participating young folk’’ continued to grow, he said.
The Electoral Commission proposed enrolment on election day to increase voter enfranchisement and recommended legislative change be made now to enable it for 2023.
Williams said the most notable feature of the 2017 election was the growth of advance voting and he expected the trend to continue. Special votes had also increased.
The Electoral Commission believes donations policy is for politicians to decide.