Will’s Word: Will scrapping same day election enrolments leave people worse off?

The government is set to be scrapping same-day election enrolments. Why, you might ask? Well, who blimmin' knows?

From 2026, voters must enrol 13 days before election day, no more registering at the booth. The change is part of a wider electoral law overhaul. On paper they argue it's about streamlining the system, which is just gobbledygook to me.

In practise, arguably, it locks out thousands, Pasifika voters particularly. Many are young, mobile, renting. Many enrol late or on the day, heck, I did it the first time I voted, I did it on election day.

Now apparently, that option is set to be going. For a bit of context, in 2023, over 110 thousand people enrolled or updated their details during voting. Apparently a large portion of that were Māori, Pasifika and migrant communities.

Those votes arguably will disappear under the new law. Should we not be making voting easy and accessible for everyone? So what if that includes same-day voting? Heck, as long as people get out and vote.

It's hard to see how this will benefit our country at all, let alone Pasifika communities who are already historically underrepresented when it comes to voting at the polls. I would argue that this will make things worse for our people.

We live busy lives, we work, we've got children to look after. Not all of us have time in our day to go and vote. So we should be making things easier but those votes will disappear under this new law.

The Attorney General even warned the move may breach human rights, but the Government is pushing ahead with it anyway. Not to be facetious, but is the Government suppressing votes by stealth?

It's shrinking the roll, it silences the margins. This isn't reform. It's exclusion.

That's Will's Word.

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