Keith Melville

A good measure of the philosophical differences in politics between the left and the right must be their starkly contrasting approaches to voter enrolment and the right to vote.

On the one hand the parties of the left will demand voter enrolment right up to and including voting day, presumably to give them more time to muster the half-hearted, the lukewarm and the lazy among their potential supporters even though they have had all the time in the world since the 2023 election to update their particulars for the electoral roll.

On the other hand, the parties of the right will typically emphasise the importance of personal responsibility in enrolling and voting. They will decree an enrolment cut-off date to ensure enrolment does not disrupt the election process.

And that is exactly what has happened this election, with enrolment ending on Sunday, October 15, as decreed in the Electoral Amendment Act last year.

This was adopted partly to prevent the type of shenanigans of the 2023 election at the Manurewa Marae.

The regulating authority, Charity Services, has found that the marae used $12,800 of its funds and marae resources to directly support political candidates in breach of charities law.

The investigation, the subject of a recent New Zealand Herald story, concluded that while there was evidence of conflicts of interest and inappropriate spending, the wrongdoing was not serious.

The spoon-fed approach adopted by the left in persuading people to enrol and vote has been marked this year by outrageous claims that the coalition is suppressing voter rights and rigging the election.

Despite that, former Labour MP and Act MP Richard Prebble points out in a recent online column that the coalition’s approach to enrolment and voting is not unusual.

He says in almost all democracies, including Australia, rolls close before voting for good reasons.

Prebble says an electoral roll available for public inspection allows eligibility to be scrutinised.

There is no substitute for a transparent process where the names and addresses of eligible voters are available for public scrutiny before election day, he says.

Enrolling to vote is not just a legal duty in New Zealand there are also fines for not enrolling, although this has not been enforced.