Report Summary

Wai 1177 was lodged by Whatarangi Winiata on behalf of registered Maori voters in the electorate of Te Tai Hauauru, both for himself and in his capacity as interim president of the Maori Party. Broadly, the claim concerned the polling arrangements made by the chief electoral officer in preparation for the by-election taking place in the Te Tai Hauauru electorate on 10 July 2004. Given that the by-election was imminent, the Tribunal agreed to hear the claimants and Crown on an urgent basis on the afternoon of the 7th and the morning of the 8th of July. As matters transpired, the Tribunal either heard the matter then or it would be too late.

The essence of the claimant’s claim was set out in his letter to the Electoral Commission of 5 July 2004. He complained that the number of polling places provided by the Electoral Office in the Tai Hauauru electorate in the 2002 election was 406. The number of polling places for the 2004 by-election was 100. The effect was (because five new polling places were to be provided) that 311 polling places that were available in 2002 would not be available in 2004 – a reduction of more than 75 per cent. Crucially the claimant argued 52 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the Tai Hauauru electorate in 2002 had been cast at one of the 311 places which would not be available. This the claimant argued was to be contrasted with the number of polling places operated for the Taranaki–King Country by-election in 1998. That electorate is roughly a third the size of the Tai Hauauru electorate, the number of registered electors was roughly comparable, but there, 110 polling places were provided.

Thus the claimant argued that Maori voters in the Tai Hauauru electorate in the 2004 by-election would not receive fair and equal treatment when compared either with the position which obtained in the 2002 election or with the allocation of resources to a by-election in 1998 where that electorate was only a third the size of Te Tai Hauauru.

The claimant emphasised continually that the allocation of resources to Maori voting in this by-election was not reasonable, honourable or in good faith. His starting position was that the Crown should provide the same number of polling places in 2004 which it provided in 2002 – that is 406.