Make It 16, the youth-led, non-partisan campaign to
extend voting rights to 16 and 17-year-olds, is stoked to
see Labour’s announcement today on the voting
age.
“Following our 2022 Supreme Court win, the last
Labour-led Government introduced legislation to extend
voting rights to 16 and 17-year-olds for local elections”
says 17-year-old Jamin Fountain, Make It 16 Co-Director,
“unfortunately that law only got First Reading before the
2023 General Election”.
“It is fantastic that
Labour have committed to strengthening New Zealand’s
democracy by re-introducing their Bill to Parliament if they
form government. We call on a Labour-led government to
prioritise making this change in time for the 2028 local
elections.”
Make It 16 also acknowledges the support
of other parties for lowering the voting age. The Green
Party and Te Pāti Māori joined Labour in 2023 voting in
support of the First Reading of the Electoral (Lowering
Voting Age for Local Elections and Polls) Legislation
Bill.
“We have been working hard this year and
building momentum and Labour’s announcement gives us even
more momentum as we go head first into the upcoming
election. We now call on the rest of Aotearoa’s political
parties to follow suit and recognise the Supreme Court’s
ruling that the current voting age is an unjustified breach
of New Zealand’s Bill of Rights. Votes at 16 will
strengthen our democracy not only for our rangatahi, but for
everyone.”
“Ideally all parties would support
lowering the voting age for both local and general
elections. Because you currently need 75% support of
Parliament to change the voting age at general elections, we
understand the reason for Labour’s announcement being
confined to local elections at this time.”
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“In
Scotland, once people saw votes at 16 in practice during the
independence referendum all
Scottish political parties voted in favour of expanding the
right to other elections. We strongly believe that once
New Zealanders see the positive impact of 16 and 17
year-olds voting in local elections, we will get consensus
for general elections
too”.
