Maori disappearing from electoral roll

STUFF.CO.NZ: A Maori population on the move is creating headaches for authorities as thousands of electoral enrolment forms are returned unopened, decimating numbers on the roll in the lead-up to this year's general election.

About 47,000 Maori voters have been wiped from the both general and Maori rolls this year as enrolment packs are being returned, address unknown.

More than 28,000 of those names have been taken off the Maori roll, shrinking it by nearly 12 per cent.

This is proportionally almost double the names taken off the general roll.

More names were being removed every day as unopened packs were returned, said Electoral Enrolment Centre spokesman Murray Wicks.

The Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate, which will be a closely-fought battleground between the Maori Party's Derek Fox and sitting MP Parekura Horomia has been badly hit, losing 3628 voters and cutting the roll to just over 31,000.

Mr Fox said he was "very concerned" about the number of names being wiped off the list.

"It's a terrible waste of mana that at a time when Maori have a real chance to determine who is in government, we are losing people off the roll."

He said he believed a number of those taken off the roll had moved to Australia, a trend that worried him.

"There's a minimum of 120,000 Maori in Australia," he said.

"It's a terrible indictment on this country that people don't want to stay here. It's a terrible loss to families, iwi and the country."

He criticised the Electoral Enrolment Centre, saying he did not think it was doing "as much as it might have" to sign up voters.

But East Coast registrar of electors Sue Braybrook said they were doing everything possible.

"We are sending contractors up to work the (East) Coast, and to the polytech and the wananga. We've got electoral stands outside The Warehouse and at Burger King, and we're sending all the information to Maori media."

Mr Horomia, said it was "up to all of us" to encourage whanau and wider communities to get enrolled.