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Māori electoral participation research programme and reports 2004-06

The findings of four Māori participation research projects for the Electoral Commission were presented at a conference held at the Wellington Airport Conference Centre on Friday, 8 December from 10am to 4pm.  They are the latest outputs from a programme begun in 2004.

The reports are available by clicking through from the project descriptions, below.

The projects

The projects were designed to inform policy and intervention design, along with further research needs to help understand and improve electoral participation by Māori:

The Electoral Commission will incorporate the research outputs into its project planning and implementation and consider next steps for its research programme.  We will encourage discussion of the findings and their implications with others interested in encouraging Māori electoral participation.  We are interested in hearing of ways in which this research has been used and of plans that others have to encourage electoral participation.

Why we commissioned the research

The Electoral Commission’s vision is that ‘ New Zealand’s electoral framework and systems are widely used, understood, trusted, and valued’.  As well as providing education and information for all voters we seek to target those groups where electoral engagement is lower.  One such diverse group is Māori. 

Consistently turnout in Māori electorates is lower than in general electorates and the turnout in the Māori electorate with the highest turnout is lower than in the general electorate with the lowest turnout.  This turnout pattern did not change with the introduction of MMP.

Young people are another group with low levels of electoral engagement. Over half of the people who should be enrolled to vote but are not are under the age of 25. In 1999 and 2002 turnout amongst 18 to 25 year olds was 15 percentage points lower than overall turnout. Māori have a younger age profile than non-Maori.  The 2006 census shows that 30% of Māori are aged 10-24 compared to 20% of non-Māori.  Whilst Māori make up 14% fot he population, Māori comprise 20% of the 10-24 age group.

Electoral Commission programmes are generally research based. However, there is no recent, theory-based, published research that explains Māori electoral (non)engagement. 

The first step in the process of seeking to fill this gap was to hold a Māori electoral research hui at Waipapa Marae, University of Auckland, in November 2004.  Participants discussed some of the key research questions and raised a series of hypotheses or ideas that may explain why Māori electoral engagement is lower. 

In 2005 we commissioned an annotated bibliography on Māori electoral engagement.

The next steps were to commission research into areas identified by the 2004 hui and to hold this 2006 conference to discuss the results of that research. 

How we chose these four research projects

In January 2006 the Electoral Commission issued a request for proposals for research projects on aspects of Māori electoral engagement that might help the commission and others in policy development and the planning of outreach and education programmes to increase Māori electoral participation.

We framed our areas of interest around the output from the 2004 hui on creating a Māori electoral engagement research agenda.  We invited research proposals that addressed one or several of the questions and/or hypotheses and were open to any relevant methodology or mix of methodologies.  From the hui we took three core questions:

  1. Amongst Māori, who consistently does not vote? (socio-economic, identity, efficacy)
  2. Why are electoral participation levels lower amongst Māori than non-Māori?
  3. What are Māori attitudes towards politics, elections and representation?

and five hypothesis that needed testing:

  1. Low levels of participation are not about being Māori, they are about poverty and education levels and the different age profile
  2. Māori are strongly engaged in iwi and Māori politics, just not in national elections
  3. Turnout in Māori electorates is lower because Māori on the Māori roll have strong Māori identity and so are more involved in iwi politics and not involved in national politics
  4. Māori are interested in politics but do not take part because they think their voice is not heard or of value
  5. Candidates are more important than party to Māori voters

We used a two step selection process. Step one was to ask for preliminary proposals, through an open invitation on the Government Electronic Tender Service and through our website. Eleven preliminary proposals were received and considered by Helena Catt and Peter Northcote of the Electoral Commission (Joe Williams was unable to attend as he was at a whanau tangi). 

In step two we invited five organisations to submit a full proposal.  One of these organisations, which had proposed using a kaupapa research methodology to examine the attitudes and patterns of behaviour of rangatahi (Māori young people aged between 18-25 years) towards electoral enrolment and voting, did not submit a full proposal. The final four proposals were considered by Joe Williams, Helena Catt and Peter Northcote with the decision made to accept all four proposals. 

8 December conference programme

10.00am  Mihimihi (Joe Williams) and morning tea

10.20am  Introduction to the research project (Dr Helena Catt, Electoral Commission CEO)

10.30am  He Puna Marama Trust - focus group interviews of Maori in Whangarei.

11.20am  Massey University School of Maori Studies – research using the Te Hoe Nuku Roa study. 

12.10pm  UMR Research - quantitative analysis of existing data on Maori electoral participation.

1.00pm   Lunch

2.00pm   Research New Zealand - literature review of work related to Maori participation and to social marketing created within the public sector

2.50pm   Discussion

4.00pm   Farewell and afternoon tea