Enrolling on Election Day: should it continue?

Will the government get into a fight over last-minute enrolment of voters or will they increase funding to make it work better next time?

• Counting errors occurred in some electorates in 2023 following an unexpected influx of late enrolments.

• Should election-day enrolment be barred, then, or should the state pay for more staff to cope with the pressures – or just let things get messy?

New Zealand’s Electoral Commission makes it pretty easy to enrol online as a voter. Nearly 92 percent of the estimated eligible population is enrolled, but only 72 percent in the 18-to-24 age-group. Eventually, almost everyone enrols, but it needs updating for changes of address. For those who haven’t gotten around to it by the time the election comes, there’s the option of a special vote.

In the last two elections (2020 and 2023), people have been allowed to enrol up to the last minute on the election day itself.

Anyone not yet on the roll, or outside of their electorate, including overseas, has to do a special vote. That means filling out and signing a declaration. It takes much longer to process, and the vote gets counted after the election day.

The results that roll out after 7pm on election day are preliminary, and the final results including specials appear later. That took three (very long) weeks in 2023 and things didn’t all go according to plan. An unexpectedly large influx of late enrolments put pressure on the system, resulting in confusion and some errors in counting. That was embarrassing for the Electoral Commission and for the whole country, but it arose from a genuine willingness to increase voter participation.

The overall voter turnout was down in 2023 compared to the high in 2020, but the numbers of late enrolments increased dramatically.

According to an independent review by the Office of the Auditor-General, 310,471 people enrolled during the two-week voting period in 2020, including about 80,000 on election day itself. But in 2023, that rose to 453,940 people enrolling during the voting period including about 110,000 on election day. The Commission had projected 319,000 would enrol in the election period – not a 46 percent increase.

Overall, there were 602,000 special votes, including those from overseas, up by 100,000 from the previous election. About 21 percent of the votes were specials. Up until 2011, special votes would normally account for about 10 percent of the total. And the specials make a difference to the final results, favouring the left. Once specials are counted, one or two seats normally switch from right to left, favouring most often the Greens, and sometimes Labour.

In 2023, the Greens gained one list seat and Te Pāti Māori gained two Māori seats after counting specials.

Naturally, then, the left-wing parties are in favour of letting people enrol (or update their address) right up until the last minute, even if it means casting special votes and taking up more time for themselves and officials.

On the other hand, National’s Paul Goldsmith, as justice minister, floated the idea of ending the right to enrol on the election day.

In 2023, the influx of late enrolers put unexpected pressure on polling places, leading to some counting errors in some electorates. The independent review “identified errors in the candidate vote count in 15 electorates (in total, 17 voting places) and errors in the party vote count in six electorates (in total, eight voting places)”. These errors didn’t affect final results overall, but they’re a warning sign.

One solution for the future may be to end election-day enrolment. The alternative is to spend more on staffing the polling places to cope with extra processing and counting.

If people can leave something till the last minute, then a lot of people will do exactly that. If people know they have to be enrolled by a certain date, then most will do so. But a lot won’t. And yet, in a democracy, there’s no point in blaming those who aren’t quite up with the play. Allowing them to enrol on the last day helps to boost participation.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has said that taking away election-day enrolment would mean “taking away the right of thousands of people to vote”. That’s an exaggeration, as there must be a legal deadline somewhere, and it’s up to each eligible person to meet the deadline – or not. According to Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick, “any imposed barrier is rightfully open to serious criticism of voter suppression. We’ve seen similar measures disproportionately harm marginalised communities in the likes of the United States.” But it’s worth remembering that last-day enrolment is a recent innovation. The left have more to gain from maximising turnout, hence they speak up for it, although it is more democratic to make it as easy as possible to vote. But there must come a point: no extensions after 7pm on election day.

When Mr Hipkins conceded defeat on the night of the 2023 election, he implicitly expressed confidence in the preliminary results. And a smooth transition of power is critical for the success of the multi-party representative system.

The worst outcome would be a loss of public confidence in the integrity of future election results. New Zealand has an excellent past record of sound election administration and high satisfaction with voting procedures. That relies on the hard work of 22,000 hired staff, which can’t be taken for granted.

Will the present right-wing government buy a fight with the opposition over the law that allows election-day enrolment, or will they stump up the cash for the Electoral Commission to ensure that the job is done more smoothly in future? Or will they do neither and risk more vote-counting problems?