Just under 50,000 Waikato-Tainui descendants chose not to vote on the way tribal governance should run.
The tribe has confirmed the numbers. Some 5559 members had their say, but close to 12,000 voting packs were sent back due to invalid addresses.
Those who did voted for a Marae Model, which would see the parliament Te Kauhanganui go from 205 Marae representatives to 137 members.
It would also mean representatives on tribal executive Te Arataura would be made up of nine members not 11.
Te Kauhanganui would have the final say on the preferred structure, which should be known before the end of this month.
The new governance structure is expected to be in place after the tribe's triennial elections in February.
