The Standard

This trick of National could win them the 2026 election

Written By: - Date published: 12:22 am, September 10th, 2025 - 14 comments
Categories: Dirty Politics, electoral commission, electoral systems, national/act government, paul goldsmith, same old national - Tags: , , , ,

In 2023, special votes meant National lost 2 seats and could not govern with ACT alone. The Green Party and Te Pati Māori gained after special votes were counted (special votes include from people who may have moved, people who had errors on their forms, are homeless, typically younger etc)

Submissions for National’s Voter Suppression / “Electoral Amendment Bill” closes tomorrow 11 September at 1pm.

The Green Party has an excellent quality submission template which brilliantly outlines the key issues.

I am reproducing an excerpt below and you can also go to the Green Party website to read it where they will link you to NZ Parliament’s submission page.

(To go directly to submission, press this: Parliament website)

What are the proposed changes and why do they matter?

(You can use this information to inform your submission)

The Electoral Amendment Bill will make it harder for New Zealanders to vote. Instead of restricting the right to vote, the Government should be making it easier, such as by following recommendations made in the 2023 Independent Electoral Review.

This bill will:

Remove the right to enrol to vote in the 13 days before election day, including the right to enrol on the day itself.

  • This denies potentially thousands of people their fundamental right to choose their government.
  • The Attorney-General’s report demonstrates that this will further disenfranchise Māori, Asian, Pasifika and youth voters.
  • The Attorney-General’s report also found these changes violate the Bill of Rights by undermining the right to vote.
  • In the 2023 General Election, nearly 100,000 people enrolled to vote in the last 12 days before election day. This bill would not have allowed these people to cast their vote.

Make it easier for wealthier party donors to donate anonymously.

  • This will be done by raising the disclosure threshold from $5,000 to $6,000, undermining openness and transparency principles in our democracy.
  • This increases New Zealand’s vulnerability to political corruption, and the influence of big money in politics.
  • Wealthy individuals and companies associated with the government’s fast-track projects gave more than $500,000 in donations to National, ACT, and New Zealand First.
  • From 2021-2023, people aligned with the property industry donated over $2.3 million to the three Government parties. This bill would make it easier for them to hide that information.

Bring back a complete ban on voting for people in prison.

  • Right now, people in prison serving sentences of more than 3 years unjustly lose their right to vote, and this Bill extends the ban to all people in prison.
  • This is in breach of human rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, as established by the High Court, the Supreme Court, and the Waitangi Tribunal.
  • Māori will be disproportionately affected by this bill, being overrepresented in our prison populations.
  • This would exclude more of our population from participating in the democratic process, further alienating them from community and civic responsibility.
  • All people in prison should retain their right to participate in our democracy.

Let the Government know your concerns around the new changes by making a submission today!

Submissions on the Electoral Amendment Bill close at 1pm on Thursday 11 September 2025

Tips for making your submission

Your submission does not need to be long or fancy – it can just be a sentence saying, “I oppose this bill”.

Make sure your opposition to the Bill is made clear at the beginning.

Use your own words to ensure your submission counts as your own – the same or similar submissions will be counted together as one submission.

Some recommendations can include:

  • Begin to implement the recommendations from the 2023 Independent Electoral Review, such as:
  • Increasing donation disclosure requirements
  • Capping donations and limiting donors to registered voters (not corporations)
  • Lowering the voting age to 16
  • Restoring voting rights to all people in prison.
  • Make it easier for people to vote, not harder.

MAKE A SUBMISSION

Make sure you’re enrolled to vote!

The last day to enrol to vote in the local elections is Friday 10 October 2025.

Whilst you won’t get your local government voting papers sent to you in the mail (as the deadline was August 1st), you can contact your council’s electoral officer to make sure you still get to vote in this year’s local body elections!

Thanks to the Green Party – this is a really important issue and their guide is both intelligent and brilliant. Interestingly, this government keeps choosing oral submission candidates even before submissions are closing. Their only interest is speed.

14 comments on “This trick of National could win them the 2026 election ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Tony Veitch 1
    10 September 2025 at 6:20 am

    Submitted (in opposition, if that needs to be added).

  2. tc 2
    10 September 2025 at 8:13 am

    I'd like to see some anger from the opposition about this with some consistent messaging to the electorate.

    Every MP that votes for this is voting to suppress democracy !

    Keep it simple as the traps are out there in the media with todays example in granny spending many column inches trying to get Chippie to call a green MP a racist.

    Well played chippie now please display some emotion on behalf of those getting screwed.

  3. Ad 3
    10 September 2025 at 9:16 am

    Hey M T great work on your supportive column I Hate Labour … But Wait.

    It's really good. Positively encouraging. Thanks for putting the effort in.

  4. gsays 4
    10 September 2025 at 11:50 am

    Thanks MT for the heads up. Just submitted.

    Not surprising really, having to be so engaged with the political process because those in charge are so malevolent.

  5. Muttonbird 5
    10 September 2025 at 2:30 pm

    In addition they will use a referendum on parliamentary term to distract from the main poll on election day. Referenda concurrent with an election poll is a useful way to take the heat out of everyday issues facing voters when they are in the booth because it help convince them they have agency.

  6. BK 6
    10 September 2025 at 6:27 pm

    Thanks MT, I find posts like this great to get mates and family to see how easy it is to put a submission together whilst learning what the fuck is actually going on 🙂

  7. PsyclingLeft.Always 7
    11 September 2025 at 8:30 am

    Aye MT, and another great Post. Almost a Public Service announcement : )

    And also easy to do. @ Green Think : "Make it easier for people to vote, not harder".

    I like the Green symbol in the main header . Green Power is a group I am very happy to be part of : )