2 August 2018
R Gavey
By email: [FYI request #8224 email]
Tēnā koe R Gavey
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT REQUEST 2018/13
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) of 4 July 2018,
regarding the number of prisoners who have been disqualified from voting by section 80(1)(d) of the
Electoral Act 1993.
The Electoral Commission’s records only cover those persons who had previously been enrolled at
some point and for whom we have an enrolment record against which to record the section 81
notification. Our records cannot include those persons who were disqualified from enrolment due to
imprisonment but who have never been enrolled.
Responses to each of your questions are outlined below:
1. The number of section 81 notifications issued by prison managers to remove prisoners from
the electoral roll from 2015-2018
The Electoral Commission’s records show that a total of 5576 section 81 notifications were received
from the Department of Corrections in 2015. Since 2015, the Commission has not collated
information on the number of notifications received and do not hold this information for 2016, 2017
and 2018. Information on the number of persons found on the roll following a notification and
removed as a result of a section 81 notice is provided under question 3.
2. The number of sentenced prisoners without a current enrolment record
Based on the number of notifications received and the number of persons removed from the roll in
2015, up to 1628 sentenced prisoners did not have a current enrolment record. For the reasons
outlined in 1 above, the Commission is not currently able to provide information on the number of
sentenced prisoners without a current enrolment record for 2016-2018.
3. The number of sentenced prisoners removed from the electoral roll from 2015-2018
Year
Number of persons removed from the
roll as a result of a section 81 notice
2015
3948
2016
3441
2017
2970
2018
1458
(to 27 July 2018)
4. The number of sentenced prisoners removed from the roll of Māori descent from 2015-2018
The following table sets out the number of persons who had identified themselves as being of Māori
descent on their most recent electoral registration or notification of change of address, who were
enrolled at the time and were consequently removed from an electoral roll as a result of a notice
given under section 81 of the Electoral Act for each calendar year.
Year
Number of persons removed from the roll as a result of a section 81
notice who identified themselves as being of Māori descent
2015
2272
2016
2048
2017
1827
2018
903
(to 27 July 2018)
5. The percentage of Māori prisoners who were removed from the electoral roll from 2004-2010
Year
Number of persons
Number of persons
Percentage of persons
removed from the roll as a
removed from the roll who
removed from the roll who
result of a section 81 notice
identified themselves as
identified themselves as
being of Māori descent
being of Māori descent
2004
302
112
37.09%
2005
260
146
56.15%
2006
728
205
28.16%
2007
1101
204
18.53%
2008
881
250
28.38%
2009
908
240
26.43%
2010
945
215
22.75%
I trust this answers your request. You have the right under section 28(3) of the Act to complain to
the Ombudsmen if you are not satisfied with the response to your request.
Ngā mihi
Kristina Temel
Manager Legal and Policy
Electoral Commission
Level 10, 34-42 Manners Street, PO Box 3220, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone +64 4 495 0030 Fax +64 4 495 0031
www.elections.org.nz