Privacy Commissioner - Te Mana Matapono Matatapu

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MSD/EEC Unenrolled Voters Programme

• Annual Report
• Technical information
• System description
• Historical activity

Annual Report

Purpose: To compare MSD's beneficiary and student databases with the electoral roll to:

• identify beneficiaries and students who are qualified to vote but have not enrolled so that they may be invited to enrol
• update the addresses of people whose names are already on the roll.

Year commenced: 2002

Features: Data transferred on request by CD.

MSD disclosure to EEC: MSD provides full name, date of birth and address of all individuals aged 17 years or older for whom new records have been created or where key data (surname, given name or address) has changed, provided these records have not been flagged as confidential.

2010/11 activity:

Match runs	2
Records received for matching	448,305
Invitations to enrol sent out	83,682
Presumed delivered	81,269
New and updated enrolments	14,729
Percentage of letters delivered resulting in changes	18%
No response	66,540
Cost	$49,786.09
Average cost per enrolment	$3.38

Compliance: Compliant.

Technical information

Information matching provision	Electoral Act 1993, s.263B(3)(a)
Year authorised/commenced	2002/2002
Match type	Identifying unclaimed entitlement    Updating data

System description

EEC operates a set of four programmes designed to identify people who are eligible to vote but are not on the electoral roll (or whose enrolment details need updating). Those who are 17 years old are invited to enrol provisionally, in anticipation of when they turn 18. These four matches are:

• NZTA/EEC Unenrolled Voters Programme;
• MoT/EEC Unenrolled Voters Programme;
• MSD/EEC Unenrolled Voters Programme;
• Citizenship/EEC Unenrolled Voters Programme.

The four matches are processed together in a sequence (NZTA then MoT, MSD, and finally Citizenship) intended to maximise the benefits from each run.

                        NZTA ► MoT ► MSD ► Citizenship

The process for each of the four programmes is essentially the same.

1. The source agency, Ministry of Social Development (MSD), creates an encrypted file extract from its records of people aged 17 years or older for whom new records have been created, or where key data (surname, given name or address) has changed, whose records have not been ‘locked' (at the client's request or if MSD staff). Each extract includes full name, date of birth, address(es) and the date the record was last updated. This file is picked-up by EEC staff.

2. EEC matches each extract with the electoral database on the basis of surname, given name/s and date of birth.

3. The addresses for matched records are compared and if the addresses are the same, the records received for matching are deleted since the EEC's records are, in effect, confirmed as current and no further action is needed.

4. Where the addresses differ, the ‘update dates' are compared as EEC need the most recent address. If the ‘update date' from the source agency[1] is later than the ‘update date' from the electoral roll record, and the EEC does not have that address for that elector in their history, the details are saved to a correspondence file of individuals to be sent an invitation to update their details.

5. Random samples of ‘possibly matched' records are examined manually to establish whether or not they should be regarded as matched. Where records appear to match, the process detailed in the previous paragraph is followed.

6. ‘Not matched' records are saved to the correspondence file of individuals to be sent an invitation to enrol.

7. Before any invitation letters are generated, the correspondence file is sorted to eliminate duplicates. This internal check ensures that when a client record appears in more than one source agency file, only the first such record identified is used to generate a letter to the client. This prevents EEC from sending multiple invitations to an individual. EEC also maintains a record of information sent to it by the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages about deaths within the past five years. This is used to ensure that data matching correspondence is not sent to anyone who has died.

8. Records from the correspondence database are deleted when the electoral roll is updated for that elector, when EEC receives notice of death or other special circumstances requiring that the person not be contacted again, or when it receives a ‘gone no address' response that is not contradicted by more recent information during the set of four matches.

The ‘no response' category for these four matches differs from other programmes in that no further action is taken in these matches if there is no response received. Non-response is not seen as a form of agreement and this programme requires a positive ‘opt-in' response.

Historical activity
                                                         

	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Match runs	2	2	3	4	5
Total records compared	629,584	468,676	373,599	662,413	905,612
Invitations to enrol/update sent out	92,378	88,071	82,945	110,081	174,943
Number presumed delivered	89,303	85,234	79,605	106,514	170,004
Enrolments (new and updated)	17,636	14,782	16,569	23,629	28,862
Percentage of enrolments (new and updated) resulting from letters delivered	20%	17%	21%	22%	17%
No response	71,625	70,423	63,014	82,885	141,142
Costs	$64,446	$62,893	$54,943	$77,234	$111,041.25
Average cost per enrolment	$3.65	$4.25	$3.32	$3.27	$3.85

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[1] The ‘update date' supplied by the agency may be the last date the record was updated in any form, and does not necessarily relate to an updated address.