More than 800 voters taken off electoral roll

More than 800 potential voters have been erased from Wairarapa's electoral roll a figure that concerns Phil Parkes, Registrar of Electors for Wairarapa.
As of August 6, 228 people were removed from the electoral roll for Tararua, 374 for Masterton, 80 for Carterton and 134 for South Wairarapa.
"Most of these people will have moved house or flat and not updated their details with us, some of them will have moved electorate or gone overseas," he said.
"If people have received update forms then they need to get them back as soon as possible if they didn't receive them then they need to re-enrol in order to cast a vote."
Since July 9 a voter re-enrolment update drive has been under way in the run-up to local body and district health board elections on October 13.
Historically Wairarapa is one of the most highly-enrolled electorates in the country and Mr Parkes wants to keep it that way.
Over 65,000 New Zealanders' names have been taken off the country's electoral rolls in the past month making these people ineligible to vote in this year's local elections unless they re-enrol now, he said.
Nationwide the Electoral Enrolment Centre has removed more people from the electoral roll in the past month than the total number of people who married and divorced in the past two years, he said.
"By law, we have to take people off the electoral rolls if their enrolment update packs get returned as undeliverable because the person has shifted," Mr Parkes said.
"We know Kiwis love buying and selling property, but each time they shift they need to keep their details up to date to stay on the electoral roll."
Mr Parkes said most of the returned update packs have come back to his office marked as gone, no address, no longer at this address, or gone overseas.
New Zealand Post charge $20 for the first two months of mail redirection a service that used to cost nothing.
Since the fee was introduced last November, Mr Parkes has seen a 50 per cent drop in the number of postal change of address forms people are completing.
"That's had an impact on the accuracy of the electoral roll," he said.
However, people can still change their electoral address for free by completing the electoral change of address card available at Post Shops.
Mr Parkes is responsible for compiling and maintaining the parliamentary roll for Wairarapa as well as encouraging the people of the district to enrol and use their right to vote.
"I urge people to re-enrol now and those that did get an update pack in the mail, to check their details and advise us of any changes before the deadline of August 24.
Those that are enrolled correctly will get their local elections voting papers sent to them and will then be set up well for next year's general election," he said.
Voting papers will be sent to all registered electors by September 21 and need to be returned by noon on Saturday, October 13.
l People can enrol or update their details online at www.elections.org.nz. Enrolment forms are also available from 0800 ENROL NOW (0800 36 76 56), or by freetexting your name and address to 36 76 at any Post Shop, council office, or library.