"The nines have it"

I came across this (apparent) idiom today and I have no idea what it means nor where it originated.

It sounds like a cross between "... to the nines" and "the ayes (or nays) have it".

Can anyone enlighten me?

Well in german, nein means no. Sometimes, people randomly use different languages and someone might have meant "The neins have it.", which means the same as your second idea, but could then later have been thought to be a misspelling. A bit like the telephone game?