ABSTRACT
International studies have reported a decline in voter turnout in many developed democracies, particularly since the mid-1980s, both for national and sub-national elections (e.g., Pintor and Gratschew, 2002). In the case of New Zealand, turnout in 2002 was 71.1%, which is still creditable compared to frequent comparators such as Britain, the United States, and Canada. But of the 22 advanced democracies, New Zealand’s turnout decline since 1945 has been the eighth steepest and well above the average (Vowles, 2004, p. 7). Turnout peaked in the 1950s at over 90%; in 1966 it fell to below 80%; there was then a brief recovery until the 1980s and a steep decline at the elections of 1987 and 1990. At the last FPP election (1993) and first PR election (1996) there was another brief recovery only to be followed by a continuation of the decline in 1999 and 2002.
