Tens of thousands of people will miss out on exercising their democratic right to vote as a result of today’s changes.

“The National Party is changing the rules on same-day enrolment, which in the last election would have seen about 110,000 people miss out on voting. That’s about the same number of people as live in Lower Hutt,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said.

“This is an appalling change that will make it harder for a lot of people to exercise their democratic right.

“The Government’s justification is the speed of results. That is no reason to make it harder for people to vote in the first place.

“As a country we should be encouraging voter turnout and making changes to support that – not shutting them out.

“They’re also raising the donation threshold, so political parties can spend more money on their campaigns, meaning big money will have a greater influence on our politics.

“National making it harder to vote is despicable and we are strongly against these changes,” Duncan Webb said.