Election 2026: Democracy cannot be delegated to the state – Richard Prebble
Before a single vote has been counted, claims that the election is rigged are being made.
Chris Hipkins has accused the Government of deliberately trying to disenfranchise voters.
Chlöe Swarbrick and the Greens have argued that the rule changes put barriers in the way of voting.
Commentator Martyn Bradbury has gone further: “This is the most rigged election in NZ history.”
It is dangerous nonsense. Enrolment has continued to rise.
This year’s election will be scrupulously fair. There is no evidence the election is rigged and New Zealand’s electoral system has extensive safeguards to ensure votes are properly cast and counted.
We only need to look to America to see the damage President Donald Trump’s false claims of electoral fraud have done to democracy.
At least Hipkins has said Labour will accept the result. Nevertheless, allegations of deliberate disenfranchisement are reckless.
Parliament passed legislation in December 2025 requiring the electoral roll to close 13 days before election day, with the Government saying this would allow enrolment processing to be completed before voting began.
In virtually every democracy, including Australia, rolls close before voting for good reasons. An electoral roll available for public inspection allows eligibility to be scrutinised.
Canada permits election-day registration, but voters must establish their identity and address through approved identification or a formal declaration and vouching process.
At the last election, voters could enrol at polling places without producing documentary proof of identity or residence. Their eligibility was subsequently checked through the special-vote process, rather than conclusively established at the polling place.
There is no substitute for a transparent process where the names and addresses of eligible voters are available for public scrutiny before election day.
Electoral fraud is not confined to overseas. A court voided the postal-vote result for the Papatoetoe subdivision in the 2025 local election after finding that ballots had been unlawfully cast using other electors’ voting papers. The court did not find that the successful candidates were involved.
It is correct that people who missed Sunday’s deadline cannot now enrol for this election.
But enrolling for the election was not just their right. It was their legal duty.
Under the Electoral Act, eligible New Zealanders must enrol. Knowingly and wilfully failing to do so is an offence, carrying fines of $100 for a first conviction and $200 for subsequent convictions.
We have a law imposing a duty on citizens which the state has effectively abandoned enforcing.
Instead, we spend millions on advertising to persuade people to do what the law already requires.
The Electoral Commission has spent months encouraging enrolment. It is difficult to believe anyone interested in voting could have been unaware that an election was approaching.
Same-day enrolment puts pressure on polling places and delays the official count. Officials must process late registrations, investigate eligibility and check for double voting after ballots have been cast.
Delaying the result is undesirable. We should know promptly who has the mandate to govern.
But the controversy illustrates a more fundamental change in our democracy.
We have turned democracy from something citizens do into something citizens watch.
When I first joined the Labour Party, I was told one of the party’s essential functions was: “Get them on the roll. Get them to the poll.”
In Auckland Central, we had a legendary political organisation.
I started as a street co-ordinator. My job was to ensure everyone in my street was enrolled. I became a block captain and eventually the campaign organiser.
We had 10 branches and thousands of party members.
In an electorate with many new New Zealanders, I recall explaining democracy to neighbours from countries where there were no free elections.
I told them voting was not just their right but their duty.
Sir Robert Muldoon claimed: “You just have to take a bus through Auckland Central and Labour will enrol you.”
“Totally false,” I replied. “We are careful to only enrol those who get off the bus.”
It was participatory democracy.
When I became the MP, those 10 branches kept me better informed about my electorate than any pollster.
The transfer of responsibility for enrolment from citizens and political parties to the state has weakened democracy.
Parties no longer see the need to have a mass membership able to enrol an electorate.
Political parties now struggle to attract enough members to maintain their registration.
Politics has become an activity conducted by professionals, pollsters and focus groups rather than citizens organised into political parties.
We have replaced volunteers with advertising, personal contact with social media, and participation with spectatorship.
We wonder why thousands have failed to enrol.
Then we are told that the fault lies with the Government and the election is rigged.
We could take a lesson from Australia, where compulsory voting is enforced and citizens are prosecuted for failing to vote without a valid excuse.
If Hipkins, Swarbrick and Bradbury believe enrolment is a citizen responsibility, why are they not demanding that the law requiring enrolment be enforced?
Then we would not be having this controversy.
Democracy requires citizens to accept duties as well as rights.
We can delegate political power to elected representatives. We can delegate electoral administration to the state.
But we cannot delegate our responsibility as citizens to enrol.
Catch up on the debates that dominated the week by signing up to our Opinion newsletter – a weekly round-up of our best commentary.