MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 22 March 2013
Electoral Commission
Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri

MĀORI ELECTORAL OPTION STARTS IN YOUR MAILBOX

If you’re Māori and on the electoral roll, check your mailbox from Monday. Over 427,000 orange Māori Electoral Option packs will be delivered across the country from Monday 25 March – the first day of the 2013 Māori Electoral Option.

“Everyone enrolled to vote, who has identified themselves as of Māori descent, will be sent their personalised Māori Electoral Option pack in the mail on Monday,” says Murray Wicks, Enrolment Services’ National Manager. “This is regardless of whether you are on the Māori roll or the General roll.”

“The Māori Electoral Option is your only opportunity to switch between rolls, so it’s really important to open your pack,” says Mr Wicks. “It has information about the choice and what it means, and the form you’ll need to make your choice.”

“If you choose the General roll, you will vote for an MP in a General Electorate for the 2014 and 2017 General Elections. If you choose the Māori roll, you will vote for an MP in a Māori Electorate for the 2014 and 2017 General Elections,” says Mr Wicks. “But it doesn’t affect which parties you can choose from with your party vote.”

“You only need to fill in the form if you want to change from the General roll to the Māori roll or from the Māori roll to the General roll, or if you want to update your details.”

If people receive a pack for someone who no longer lives at the address, the pack should be forwarded to their new address or marked ‘return to sender’ and posted back.

“If you don’t get a pack it means you’re not correctly enrolled to vote. All you need to do is fill in an enrolment form, and that’s easy,” says Mr Wicks.

To get an enrolment form freetext your name and address to 3676, call 0800 36 76 56 or go to any PostShop. You can also enrol or update your details online at www.elections.org.nz

Only New Zealand Māori or descendants of New Zealand Māori can be registered on the Māori Electoral Roll. Under the Electoral Act, everyone else is not regarded as New Zealand Māori and must register on the General Roll.

There are currently 427,000 people identified as Māori enrolled to vote. 235,000 are on the Māori Roll and 192,000 on the General Roll.

The results of the Māori Electoral Option together with the results of the 2013 Census are used to determine the number of Māori and General Electorates there will be in Parliament and to revise electorate boundaries.

More information about the Māori Electoral Option is available from www.elections.org.nz.

TUKUNGA PĀPĀHO

Paraire 22 Poutū-te-rangi 2013
Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri
Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri

TĪMATA AI TE KŌWHIRINGA PŌTI MĀORI I TŌ POUAKA MĒRA

Mēnā he Māori koe i runga i te rārangi pōti, tirohia tō pouaka mēra ā te Mane. Neke atu i te 427,000 ngā mōkihi Kōwhiringa Pōti Māori karaka ka tukuna haerehia ki te motu whānui atu i te Mane te 25 o Poutū-te-rangi – te rā tuatahi o Te Kōwhiringa Pōti Māori 2013.

"Ko te hunga katoa i rēhita ki te pōti, i kī rātau he uri Māori rātau, ka tukuna ā rātau mōkihi Kōwhiringa Pōti Māori whaiaro ki a rātau i roto i te mēra ā te Mane," hei tā Murray Wicks, Kaiwhakahaere Ratonga Rēhita ā-Motu. "Ahakoa kei te rārangi Māori koe, te rārangi Whānui rānei."

"Ko te Kōwhiringa Pōti Māori anake tō whai wāhitanga ki te whakawhiti i waenga rārangi, nō reira he mea nui tonu kia huakina tō mōkihi," te kī a Mr Wicks. "Kei roto ngā mōhiohio mō te kōwhiringa me tōna tikanga, me te puka e hiahiatia hei whakarite i tō hiahia."

Ki te kōwhiri koe i te rārangi Whānui, ka pōti koe mō tētahi MP i tētahi Rohe Pōti Whānui mō ngā Pōtitanga Whānui i ngā tau 2014 me te 2017. Ki te kōwhiri koe i te rārangi Māori, ka pōti koe mō tētahi MP i tētahi Rohe Pōti Māori mō ngā Pōtitanga Whānui i ngā tau 2014, me te 2017," ka kī a Mr Wicks. "Engari kāore e whai pānga ki ngā rōpū kōwhiri hei whiriwhiri māu me tō pōti rōpū."
"Me whakakī noa iho koe i te puka mēnā e hiahia ana koe ki te whakawhiti mai i te rārangi Whānui ki te rārangi Māori, mai i te rārangi Māori ki te rārangi Whānui rānei, te whakahōu rānei i ō taipitopito."

Ki te whiwhi te tangata i tētahi mōkihi a tētahi tangata kua kore kē e noho ana i taua wāhi noho, me tuku te mōkihi ki te wāhi noho hou, me tuhi rānei 'return to sender' ka whakahoki mā te pōhi.

"Ki te kore koe e whiwhi mōkihi kāore koe i te rēhita tika ki te pōti. Ko tāu noa iho he whakakī i te puka rēhita, he māmā tērā," hei tā Mr Wicks.

Mō te whiwhi puka patokoreututia tō ingoa me tō wāhi noho ki 3676, waea ki 800 36 76 56, haere rānei ki tētahi PostShop. Ka taea anō e koe te rēhita, te whakahou tuihono rānei i ō taipitopito i www.elections.org.nz.

Ko ngā tāngata Māori, ngā uri o ngā tāngata Māori anake e āhei te rēhita ki te Rārangi Pōti Māori. I raro i te Electoral Act, ko te nuinga atu o te hunga ehara i te Māori nō Aotearoa me rēhita ki te Rārangi Whānui.

E 427,000 ngā tāngata i rēhita hei kaipōti Māori. E 235,000 kei te Rārangi Māori, ā, 192,000 kei te Rārangi Whānui.

Ka whakamahia ngā hua o te Kōwhiringa Pōti Māori me ngā hua o te Tatauranga Whānui 2013 ki te whiriwhiri kia hia te maha o ngā Rohe Pōti Māori, Whānui hoki ki roto o te Pāremata me te whakahou anō i ngā rohenga pōti.

E wātea ana he mōhiohio atu anō mō te Kōwhiringa Pōti Māori i http://www.elections.org.nz/.

ENDS

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