The Justice Committee’s inquiry into the 2025 local elections will examine voting processes.
This includes reports of people being removed from rolls or switched between them, and the number of disallowed special votes.
Ofsoske said the Electoral Commission must answer the “burning question” of why there were roll anomalies that left many people unable to vote.
“We were very surprised and a little upset actually,” Ofsoske said
“Right across the country we had instances of electors who were on the preliminary [electoral] roll and they had their letter sent out by the Electoral Commission and all of a sudden they were removed from the final roll by the Electoral Commission.
“And because they were removed from the final roll, they did not receive their voting packs in the post.
“We had a number of those.”
Ofsoske has worked in the sector for 30 years, providing election services to about half of councils including the Whangārei, Far North and Kaipara district councils and Northland Regional Council.
His business was among those affected by electoral roll anomalies, he said.
Ofsoske said he had met with Electoral Commission staff about the matter but had not received answers.
He said the select committee inquiry meant the commission would have to explain to Parliament why a number of electors, most of them Māori, were on the preliminary roll but later removed and put on the dormant roll, “or worse even put on to the general roll”.
Commission chief executive Karl Le Quesne rejected Ofsoske’s criticism.
“We did not see anomalies or unusual patterns with people’s enrolments in the 2025 local elections,” Le Quesne said.
Le Quesne said more than 710,000 enrolment updates were processed for last year’s elections.
“Preliminary rolls were supplied to councils and election providers on June 24, the final rolls on August 1 and [updated] supplementary rolls on October 10 and 14.
There were always differences between preliminary and final rolls, mostly because people had changed address, he said.
The commission sought to contact all electors whose initial voting correspondence was returned, he said.
Those who could not be reached were placed on the dormant roll until they updated their address.
Le Quesne said the commission had worked with Ofsoske “for a very long time” and they shared a good relationship.
The commission contacted Ofsoske after being approached by Local Democracy Reporting Northland for comment.
Le Quesne said the commission had explained its processes to electoral service providers before the local elections and assured them these were followed.
Whangārei District Council Māori Ward councillor Deb Harding said she wanted answers after the 2025 local election issues.
“We did have a lot of members, residents not satisfied about the roll situation where they were on one [electoral] roll and went to go and check, and they were on another roll,” Harding said.
Le Quesne said a new rule introduced at the 2025 elections may have caused issues.
He said Māori electors could choose whether they were on the Māori or general electoral roll.
The commission did not place Māori electors on a specific electoral roll by default, nor change which roll they were on without permission.
Māori electors could change rolls any time, except in the final three months before local elections.
Le Quesne said the commission processed roll change applications received during this period after the 2025 local elections.
This new rule “may have caused some confusion”, Le Quesne said.
Voting on the future of Māori electoral areas was a major focus for many councils at the elections.
There were widespread efforts to get Māori and other electors on to the electoral roll so they could vote in council referendums on Māori wards.
About 40% of Northland’s population identifies as Māori.
Far North District Council voters chose to keep their Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori ward at the 2028 local election.
Northland Regional Council voters by a slim majority voted to remove their Te Raki Māori Constituency.
Whangārei District Council voters also chose to remove their Whangārei Māori Ward.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
