Maori in New Zealand: voting with their feet?

Maori in New Zealand have the right to choose which electorate to vote in: they can choose to vote in a 'General district' (with other Maori and all non- Maori), or to vote in a 'Maori district', where only Maori are allowed to register. Every five years there is a period known as Maori Electoral Option, during which Maori are given the option to either stay in their current district or switch. This offers an ideal setting to analyse whether Maori voters strategically choose to register where they expect the race to be closer. To that avail, I use data from two Maori Electoral Options, two general elections, and two censuses. Results suggest that only a very small fraction of Maori (less than 2%) seem to respond to the strategic incentives described. Two forces seem to play a much larger role in enrolment choices: cultural allegiances and socioeconomic status. Maori with a stronger sense of Maori identity and Maori living in socially disadvantaged areas tend to overwhelmingly enrol in the Maori districts. The implications of these results are discussed.