A referendum is a vote for a policy or idea, not a vote for a person. When we vote for an MP on 26th November, we will also vote in a referendum about the voting system. Part A asks you to vote for one of these:
Do you want to keep MMP?
Do you want to change to another voting system?
You put a tick beside the one you choose.
Part B is the type of voting system that you want if most people vote to change. The four choices are: First Past the Post (FFP), Preferential Voting (PV), Single Transferable Vote (STV), Supplementary Member (SM).
If most people choose to keep MMP, Part B does not matter. However, there will probably be some changes to MMP. Some things are not very fair at the moment. For example if a small party gets one MP elected, the party is allowed four other MPs from their list. This is how ACT got 5 MPs in Parliament in 2008. The ACT Party had only 3.65% of the vote. There are 120 MPs in Parliament.
Listen to Referendum on MMP to hear more about this.
The Elections NZ website has more about the referendum.
Vocabulary
Preferential – Who do you prefer? Put 1 beside your first preference, 2 beside your second preference etc.
Supplementary – extra