On Fri, 14 Jul 2023 08:58:07 +1200, Crash <
nogood@dontbother.invalid>
wrote:
As an exercise in seeing what validation is done when someone tries to
change from the General to the Maori electoral roll, I tried it out.
There is no validation required to switch - you can simply claim to be
Maori in applying to switch rolls but there is no requirement to
submit any statutory supporting evidence. There is a reminder that
falsely claiming to be Maori is illegal and an outline of the penalty
options is given. This is as far as I went - I did not press the
submit button.
It is reasonable to expect that some checking will be done before you
receive confirmation of the switch but such reasonable expectations
are expensive compared to an automated switch taking place.
It was also of interest to me that those on the Maori roll can only
vote in the Maori electorates. Those on the general roll (including
Maori) can only vote in the non-Maori electorates. This is rational
and I can see why many Maori would prefer to be on the general roll.
Maori are being given a strategic ability to choose that is not being
given to others, but there are fewer Maori seats than the proportion
of (self-selecting) Maori in our population would in theory support.
But at the end of the election it is the party votes that determine
the numbers for each party in parliament, so I can understand why most
parties support the Maori seats while they are supported by Maori.
Any voter can vote for any party, so it would be possible for those
not on the Maori Roll to vote for the Maori Party.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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