Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Te Pāti Māori is calling on the Electoral Commission to check its processes are robust, saying it's heard hundreds of complaints about people's details being altered.
But the commission say it has found no technical issue with its online system and has suggested the problem could be due to user error.
Speaking at Parliament on Wednesday, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said her party had been contacted by "a few hundred people" who said they had recently checked their enrolment details only to discover they had been changed.
"Some of them have never moved, and they've never not voted, so there is a concern about that process," she said.
"The system's obviously flawed. It's got something technically wrong with it, and [the commission] needs to come back and guarantee to us."
In a statement, the commission's Deputy Chief Executive Operations Anusha Guler said they were aware some people could not find their enrolment record on the website, but after checking, had found no technical issues with their online system.
"If you're Māori, I also want to assure you that your roll choice - Māori roll or general roll - is up to you. We won't put you on either roll by default and we won't change your roll without your permission," Guler said.
Guler said there might be a few reasons why people could not find their enrolment record.
"When you look up your details on vote.nz your search must exactly match the name and address we have on our records. The same goes for verifying your information with ID - the names on your enrolment record and your ID must match exactly.
"If we lose touch with you - for example if we get returned mail from an old address - we will try to contact you by email or text to ask you to update your details. If we can't contact you or don't hear back from you, you may be put on the dormant roll."
The records of those on the dormant roll would not show up on the website, but they would be re-enrolled as soon as they filled in a form with their current address, Guler said.
Ngarewa-Packer said the commission needed to do "a little bit more digging" to prove the system was working - especially given upcoming changes to enrolment rules which stop same-day enrolment.
"They need to look into it and give it the credibility that it deserves," she said. "It shouldn't be taken lightly, particularly when the government is saying that you're the problem, you 100,000 drop kicks."
