Kia ora Gareth

 

Please find attached the response to your recent Official Information Act
request.

 

In the interests of transparency, we release responses to Official
Information Act requests every three months. We will publish this response
with your personal details redacted on elections.nz.

 

You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act to make a complaint to
the Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the response to your request.
Information about how to do this is available at ombudsman.parliament.nz
or by phoning 0800 802 602.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Electoral Commission | Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri

PO Box 3220 | Level 10, 34 – 42 Manners Street | Wellington | 6140 | New
Zealand

Phone +64 4 495 0030 | Fax +64 4 495 0031 | [1]vote.nz | [2]elections.nz

 

From: Electoral Commission <[email address]>
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2023 9:22 AM
To: OIA Enquiries <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Commercial supply of contemporary
electoral rolls

 

Hi OIA Team,

Here is an enquiry from Gareth Watkins
([3][FOI #23765 email]). 

It was CC'd to: OIA/LGOIMA requests at Electoral Commission

 

From: Gareth Watkins

Date: Wed, Aug 9, 2023 at 9:43 pm

Dear Electoral Commission,

I was very interested to see that the New Zealand electoral rolls up until
2010 are now available on the US-based Ancestry.com. The Ancestry search
(behind a paywall) allows for anyone to search for people based on name or
simply occupation. You can then find their residential addresses in bulk.

The rolls can be accessed here:
[4]https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/colle...

While searching the rolls has always been possible by visiting an
electoral office or library in New Zealand, the supply of contemporary
information to overseas commercial companies now allows anyone to easily
target living people with specific occupations (e.g. show me the
residential addresses of all high-profile
journalists/musicians/sportspeople in New Zealand).

The supply of data has also enabled a huge amount of living New Zealanders
to be registered into the Ancestry database that may not have been
documented before.

Could you please supply me with the following.

1. Whether the supply of electoral rolls is a commercial arrangement with
Ancestry, and the details of that arrangement (charges, contract etc).

2. The names of any other commercial organisations that the Commission has
supplied electoral rolls too. Please also specify in which countries the
organisations are registered, and any monies the Commission has received
from the preparation and supply of the rolls.

3. All information relating to the decision to release/supply the
electoral rolls dated so close to the present day (e.g. the 2010 electoral
roll).

4. All information relating to any discussions within the Commission about
whether the supply of contemporary voter information challenges the
integrity of the electoral process.

Yours faithfully,

Gareth Watkins

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This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
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References

Visible links
1. http://www.vote.nz/
2. https://elections.nz/
3. mailto:[FOI #23765 email]
4. https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/colle...
5. mailto:[FOI #23765 email]
6. mailto:[Electoral Commission request email]
7. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
8. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers