September 19 is an important date in New Zealand's electoral
history. Not only was it the date when women won the right to
vote in 1893 but it was also the date when the people voted to
change their electoral system in 1992. The 1992 referendum
contained two questions. The first asked voters whether they
wanted to retain the first past the post (FPP) or change the
voting system. Change won overwhelmingly with the support of
84.7% of the voters who participated. (The referendum turnout
was only 55%, due to it being non-binding and also stand alone,
i.e. not held in conjunction with a general election.) It's
worth noting that if FPP had won against "change" in 1992 the
National government of the time was proposing to promote a
second referendum to reintroduce a senate in New Zealand. This
had been abolished in 1951. The second question asked voters to
choose between four change options: SM (supplementary member,
then only used in South Korea), STV (single transferable vote —
as used for the Australian Senate),