Maori Party reports further electoral irregularities

Dr Pita Sharples, Co-leader 7 November 2008

Dr Pita Sharples has today revealed that some voters casting an advance vote were told that they could not vote for the Maori Party unless they are on the Maori roll.

“We have taken this issue directly to the Chief Electoral Office, demanding immediate action to correct this misinformation,” said Dr Sharples.

“All voters can give their party vote to the Maori Party,” he said.

“People on the Maori roll can also vote for our seven electorate candidates standing in the Maori electorates”.

“The Maori Party has earlier raised concerns about people being purged from rolls, sending in re-enrolment forms as requested, but their names not appearing on the printed rolls.

“We have also received complaints from people who exercised their so-called ‘Maori Option’ to switch rolls, and whose forms were date-stamped, but they found the changes were not registered because the completed forms were received after the deadline.

“We appreciate that administering the rolls is a massive task, and electoral officials generally do a great job, but the whole process is cumbersome and results in bias against Maori voters.

“We will be looking into some review of the system after the election’” said Dr Sharples.

ENDS

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