Change to local body voting age possible — even likely
A bid to change the voting age to 16 in general elections was over before it even began, but there’s a possibility, maybe even a strong possibility, that changing the voting age at local elections will succeed.
Within hours of the Supreme Court on Monday deciding the voting age of 18 was a breach of the Bill of Rights that had not been justified, Act and National said they’d favour keeping the voting age as is.
That’s hugely significant. For the first time in a long time, the votes of National in particular actually matter.
The voting age for general elections is an entrenched provision of the Electoral Act.
That means changing it requires a referendum or a 75 per cent majority in the House, meaning there’s no way to pass a change through Parliament without the backing of National.
By the time Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Government would draw up and introduce legislation to lower the voting age to 16, it was clear any attempt by the Government to change the general election voting age in Parliament would be futile.
Success in a referendum is just as unlikely. A Talbot Mills poll from August found 28 per cent of people backed lowering the age, while 66 per cent were opposed.
It’s worth pausing to consider how we got here.
After litigation from Arthur Taylor on the voting rights of prisoners, the courts decided they had the right to issue a declaration of inconsistency, meaning they would say Parliament had passed a law that was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.
This does not mean the courts could strike down that law. In fact, it meant very little until legislation passed in Parliament with unanimous support in August created a
regime for the Government to respond to the courts declaring an inconsistency.
The law requires the Attorneygeneral to notify Parliament of the court’s declaration, and the minister responsible to respond to Parliament within four months.
Separate changes to Parliament’s rules required a declaration to be referred to a select committee and to respond within four months, and a debate on the select committee report, and the Government’s response to that declaration within six months.
It’s important to remember the way this regime keeps the real power to change the law in Parliament. The only change is the courts now have the ability to put something on Parliament’s agenda.
The most likely outcome is that nothing changes.
However, the law doesn’t protect each voting age the same way.
The voting age for local-body elections is set out in the Local Electoral Act (which refers back to the Electoral Act).
It’s also set at 18, but is not entrenched, meaning it could be changed by a simple majority. That means it’s something Labour could do on its own (the Greens support lowering the voting age across the board and would back this).