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Tens of thousands of New Zealanders have had their details removed from the electoral rolls for this year's General Election - and their vote won't count unless they re-enrol.

45,542 people who have previously been enrolled have had their names removed from the electoral rolls in the wake of the Electoral Enrolment Centre's Enrolment Update Campaign.

"This is the equivalent of almost one whole electorate of voters wiped off the electoral rolls," says Murray Wicks, National Manager of the Electoral Enrolment Centre.

21% of these voters, or 9,624 are of Maori descent. 6,059 voters have been removed from the Maori electoral rolls.

"None of these people would have their vote counted if an election was held tomorrow," says Mr Wicks.

By law, people must be removed from the electoral roll if they've changed address and not updated their enrolment details.

"Removing these 45,500 people off the electoral roll is about the same as telling every single person living in Whangarei, or New Plymouth, or Invercargill that their vote won't count in this year's election."

The most number of voters removed from the electoral rolls was in the Wellington Central electorate.

"It's easy to enrol, and I urge people to do it now - particularly if they didn't get a personalised enrolment update pack early in May or they've moved house or changed their name recently," says Mr Wicks.

Enrolment forms are available by calling 0800 ENROL NOW (0800 36 76 56), freetexting your name and address to 3676, visiting any PostShop or going online to www.elections.org.nz. You can also check and update your details online at the website.

Mr Wicks reminds people who have received their enrolment update pack to open it, check their details are right and if they're not to let the Electoral Enrolment Centre know by updating the details and returning the form. If you've received a pack for someone no longer living at the address it should be returned so that person's details can be removed from the roll.

The Enrolment Update Campaign ends on June 17 so provisional electoral rolls can be printed and made available for people to check their details. The final electoral rolls will close and be printed once the election date is announced.

Ends

Breakdown of voters removed from the rolls attached. For further information please contact Murray Wicks, National Manager, Electoral Enrolment Centre on 027 249 4508 or 04 801 0701 or Anna Hughes Communications Advisor 027 28 28 827.