After every general election, the Electoral Commission (Commission) issues a report on how the election went and what, if any, improvements can be made. In the report just published on last year’s general election there is good news and a clear signal some significant changes should be made. 

The good news:

• 2020 saw an 82% voter turnout – the highest since 1999 and a positive sign that voters still have confidence in our electoral system.
• 68% of votes were case in advance of polling day – clearly voters like the opportunity to vote where and when they find the time and location that suits.
• There was a 12% increase in enrolments in the Maori seats – these seats have special significance to an increased number of voters.

The calls for change:

• The Electoral Commission continues to call for our system of MMP to be refined, including scrapping the rule that allows a party to get an uplift in the number of MPs if they win a single electorate seat (eg. as the Maori Party did in 2020) and reducing the 5% party vote threshold to 4%.

• Election advertising rules are out of date, particularly with the move towards advance voting when restrictions on what and where parties and candidates can publish do not apply.

• Reducing the voting age to 16 is an issue that should be discussed.
• Parliament should think about legislating for a fixed election date, which would remove the Prime Minister of the day’s prerogative to set the date.

The 2020 Election 

The 2020 election had a number of unique challenges. It occurred in the midst of a global pandemic and with the incumbent party more focused on the ever-present threat of community transmission than on a regular campaign. The original election day was delayed a month and the Electoral Commission responded by encouraging voters to vote early and close to home (which they did).

Unsurprisingly, the Commission recommends that Parliament undertakes a review of electoral laws to ensure that the voting system is resilient and robust enough to handle future emergencies, such as pandemics. The Commission also makes a range of mostly technical recommendations to make voter registration and advance and special voting more accessible and faster. 

For example, the Commission recommends that Parliament amends legislation to: 

• allow for the early checking of advance and special votes prior to the close of voting;

• enable the Commission to address logistics difficulties encountered by voters, such as a voter having changed address since enrolment;

• allow for overseas voters’ signatures to be captured electronically (using technology like signature pads);

• allow for special voters to make their voter’s declaration in a digital format; and

• give consideration to data matching technology and other electronic technologies for use in future elections. 

But credit where it’s due: an 82% turnout is an endorsement of our democratic systems. It’s possible the turnout was boosted by voters wanting to have their say in the two referenda held simultaneously (on euthanasia and cannabis reform). But even so, 2.9m New Zealanders voted. 

Substantive reform

Despite the focus on improving technology to make voting easier for voters, the Commission does not support the introduction of online voting. It is, it says, a polarizing idea but not one whose time has yet come. Opponents of online voting routinely raise concerns about transparency of process, voting verification, protection against outside influence and lack of evidence that it increases participation. The high voter turn-out in 2020 may well dampen down calls for its introduction.

But the Commission does support significant reform – and not for the first time.

Its call for structural reform to the MMP thresholds is important and not new. In 2012 the Commission conducted a statutory review of MMP, and recommended dropping the 5% threshold to 4% and scrapping the one seat gateway which allows a win in one seat entry to proportional representation. Successive parties have benefited from the one seat rule since 1996 when MMP was introduced, most notably Act and, this term, the Maori Party. Lowering the 5% threshold may potentially have less impact. No party since 2008 has polled higher than 4% and lower than the necessary 5%, although in theory a lower threshold might make voting for a smaller party seem like less of a risk. 

In any case in 2012 the then National Government ignored the Commission’s recommendations and when the Commission repeated them in 2017 Labour also did nothing. Has much changed? In 2021 the Greens support reform and the Government has indicated a Parliamentary select committee may choose to make recommendations on the issues raised but the two major parties look largely disinterested in stirring up further debate.

The voting age

In the run up to the 2020 election there was an energetic ‘Make it Count’ campaign to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. It included a proceeding in the High Court unsuccessfully seeking a declaration that the current voting age was inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (Make It 16 Inc v Attorney-General [2020] NZHC 2630). Supporters of the idea claim that 16 and 17 year olds are competent and mature enough to vote and should be allowed to do so.

The voting age is, however, an entrenched provision of the Electoral Act and changing the age would require 75% of all MPs to agree. That’s a purposefully high threshold and public opinion is not there yet. Public polls have consistently shown voters oppose the idea (though the pool of voters polled could be skewed in favour of older New Zealanders).

The Commission doesn’t pick sides but it does say more public debate would be useful. 

Final thoughts 

In response to a number of high profile complaints about campaign donations the Prime Minister indicated recently that the electoral law may be up for review. If so, this latest report by the Electoral Commission would be a good place for those drafting any amendments to start.