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The Annual Report of the Electoral Commission for the year ended 30 June 2010 was tabled in the House on 15 September 2010.  The key points are below.  The full report is available under Downloads, below:

 Part 1 Year in Review – Key Points

Introduction                                                                                      

Justice Sir Hugh Williams was appointed president of the Commission with effect from 19 October 2009. The Commission met 4 times during the year and also dealt with some matters by circulation.

 The Electoral (Administration) Amendment Act 2010 was enacted in May 2010. It provides for the functions of this Commission, and those of the Chief Electoral Office, to be transferred to a new Electoral Commission on 1 October 2010. All assets and liabilities of this Commission will vest in the new Electoral Commission on that date.

 This is the final annual report of this Commission. We will prepare a report for the 3 months 1 July 2010 to 30 September 2010 which, in line with the new legislation, will be included in the 2011 annual report of the new Electoral Commission.

New Strategy and Activity Groups

In the light of the proposed amalgamation of the electoral agencies we changed our strategy to focus our efforts on

•  discharging our routine statutory functions without launching major new initiatives
•  assisting the Ministry of Justice with the planning for the new Electoral Commission
•  planning for a smooth close down of this Commission
•  providing input into proposed legislation (amalgamation, the MMP referendum, and electoral finance).

 The new strategy was reflected in amendments to the Statement of Intent 2009/14 and the Memorandum of Understanding 2009/10. The amendments were approved by the Minister of Justice in November 2009. Changes included a new Statement of Forecast Service Performance organised into 5 groups of activities. The groups are:-

•  Activity Group 1 Compliance related to political parties
•  Activity Group 2 Promotion of public awareness of electoral matters
•  Activity Group 3 Provision of advice on electoral matters
•  Activity Group 4 Responding to international requests for information and assistance
•  Activity Group 5 Organisation and capacity in place to support other activities