Local voters vanish without a trace

Wairarapa Registrar of Electors is on the hunt for the almost 1000 Wairarapa voters who have dropped off the electoral roll.

Since enrolment update packs were sent out to those eligible to vote in the Wairarapa electorate, Philip Parkes has received 983 bounced packs, each envelope marked "Gone, No Address."

Packs were sent out to the 4700 eligible voters on July 1 to check residents were enrolled correctly before local body elections in October.

Nationally, around 70,000 people were removed from the electoral roll after their packs were sent back.

Mr Parkes said he is concerned by the high number of Wairarapa voters who have been removed from the roll but remains optimistic.

"That number is quite a lot," he said.

"But it's comparable with other update campaigns we've done in the past. It just means we have to do a bit of work to locate these people."

Mr Parkes and contractors will be visiting addresses which do not appear on the roll to see if anyone has moved to these properties since the last election.

"We usually pick up that way, by going to addresses that haven't been enrolled.

"Usually, people whose packs bounced have moved somewhere else and haven't told us."

For the Wairarapa region, 267 packs were returned from within Masterton District, 136 within Carterton District and 194 from South Wairarapa.

From the Tararua and Central Hawke's Bay areas combined, 386 packs were returned.

Mr Parkes said Wairarapa is traditionally a well-enrolled electorate.

"Usually, by the time the local election rolls around, we get about 99 per cent enrolled."

He said voters have until August 16 to get on the printed roll and receive their voting papers in the mail. "If you don't go on the printed roll, you won't get your voting papers sent to the right address."