Paul Goldsmith defends electoral law overhaul, cites Aussie comparison, while in Gisborne

East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick and Cabinet minister Paul Goldsmith say the Electoral Amendment Bill will make vote counting easier for election officials and deliver quicker results.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is confident 2026 general election voters will not have difficulty enrolling after the Electoral Amendment Bill is passed.

Voters will have to be enrolled no later than 13 days before election day. In the 2023 election, it was possible to enrol as late as election day itself.

Goldsmith, who is also the Minister for the Arts, Culture and Heritage, was in Gisborne on Friday.

Accompanied by East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick, he visited Toihoukura (School of Māori Visual Art and Design), Tairāwhiti Museum and Tauwhi Men’s Centre, and also met justices of the peace.

Goldsmith said the amendment bill would overhaul “outdated and unsustainable electoral laws”, including stopping same-day enrolment, which was introduced by the previous Government.

The bill closes enrolment before advance voting begins, with people needing to enrol or update their details by midnight on the Sunday before advance voting starts the following Monday morning.

That means enrolment must be completed 13 days before election day while the bill sets a requirement of 12 days advance voting at each election.

“The problem is we’ve seen huge growth in special votes because the voters were not enrolled and that had flowed through the election system,” Goldsmith said.

There were 603,257 special votes in 2023, or 20.9% of all votes counted. Only 78,030 of those votes came from overseas-based voters.

Special votes were 17% of all votes cast in the previous two elections.

“It took three weeks to count all the votes at the last election,” Goldsmith said. “It used to be two weeks. If we do nothing, it will be heading off to four weeks.”

Goldsmith said Australian voters had to enrol 26 days before election day compared to the 13 days proposed under the Government’s bill.

“Our view is if the Aussies can manage it, we can manage it.”

Attorney-General Judith Collins said the electoral changes could raise legal issues on “the fundamentality of the right to vote” and effectively discriminate against Māori, Pasifika, Asian and youth voters, who are currently more likely to enrol in the days immediately before the election.

Many of those voters tend to vote for left-of-centre parties.

The Government, however, remained committed to its policy, Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith said about 100,000 people enrolled on election day at the last election.

“But to say 100,000 people would be excluded from voting would be to assume we’re totally incapable of adapting to new circumstances.”

Goldsmith expressed confidence in a year-long education programme from the Electoral Commission on enrolment requirements.

“The task is to get organised and get enrolled. I’ve got every confidence people can do that.”

In regard to other issues, Goldsmith said the Government was concerned by the backlog of cases in the court system and would introduce legislation to increase the number of High Court judges from 55 (unchanged since 2004) to 57.

Budget 2025 allocated $246 million over the next four years to address court backlogs, including more legal aid funding.

Goldsmith said the Government was ahead of schedule in its aim of reducing serious crime. There had been 156,000 victims of serious violent crime in the 12 months to May - 29,000 fewer than when National came to power.

“That is still 156,000 too many.”

Goldsmith defended the controversial policy of banning gang patches.

Gang members were less than a quarter of 1% of the adult population, yet were responsible for 25% of violent crime, he said.

“The obvious place to start in reducing serious crime is with the people committing the most serious crime.”

The Government had given police more powers, including the gang patch ban.

“It’s amazing how effective the policy has been in relieving communities of intimidation.”