New Zealand’s electoral laws are getting a much-needed haircut and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is standing firm despite the predictable howling from the usual suspects. The government’s proposed changes under the Electoral Amendment Bill, as reported by Stuff, aim to tidy up what they call an ‘unsustainable’ system. The big moves? Scrapping same-day voter enrolment and requiring people to enrol by midnight the Sunday before advance voting starts – 13 days before election day. Oh, and a ban on prisoner voting, because, apparently, some folks think armed robbers should pick our MPs from behind bars.
Cue the pearl-clutching. Attorney-General Judith Collins, doing her statutory duty, flagged that these changes might clash with constitutional rights, estimating that up to 100,000 people could be “disenfranchised”. Constitutional lawyer Graeme Edgeler chimed in, calling the 13-day enrolment cutoff a “step too far”. The Spinoff went full sob-story, wailing that thousands – especially Māori voters – will be left out in the cold. Disenfranchised? Really?
First off, the claim that these changes will ‘disenfranchise’ anyone is about as convincing as a used car salesman’s patter. There are roughly 1000 days between elections. One thousand days to fill out a simple form on the Electoral Office website vote.nz. It takes five minutes, tops. If you can’t manage that, you’ve got the organisational skills of a goldfish. The same folks who are apparently too hapless to enrol in three years can miraculously open bank accounts, buy Lotto tickets, place bets at the TAB and sign up for hire purchase deals to snag a new flat-screen TV. But filling out an enrolment form? Apparently, that’s a bridge too far.
Luxon’s point is straightforward: get organised. He even pointed to Australia, where same-day enrolment isn’t a thing and nobody’s crying about it. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see the logic. Early enrolment means smoother advance voting and faster processing of special votes. It’s not about locking people out: it’s about making the system efficient. Yet, the naysayers are acting like Luxon’s personally burning their voter ID cards.
The patronising drivel about Māori voters is particularly galling. The Spinoff and others imply Māori are somehow uniquely incapable of enrolling on time, as if they’re too busy or too clueless to handle basic civic duties. This is the kind of soft racist bigotry that assumes Māori need hand-holding to participate in democracy. It’s infantilising and, frankly, insulting. As Simon O’Connor points out in his excellent piece on OnPointNZ, these arguments often come from a vanguard of self-appointed elites who think they speak for entire communities. Māori voters, like everyone else, have a thousand days to get their name on the roll. They don’t need sanctimonious academics or activists crying ‘disenfranchisement’ on their behalf.
Let’s be real: if you can’t manage to enrol in the three years between elections, you’re either lazy or have the IQ of a lettuce. And honestly, should we be bending over backwards to ensure people who can’t tie their own shoelaces get to pick our government? Voting is a right, sure, but it’s also a responsibility. If you’re too disorganised to enrol, maybe you’re not ready to weigh in on who runs the country. Harsh? Maybe. But democracy isn’t a free-for-all where we hold your hand to the ballot box.
The Ministry of Justice’s hand-wringing about ‘significant impacts’ on democratic participation is equally overblown. They’re fretting about 100,000 people who might miss out. Who are these people? The ones who rock up on election day, realise they’re not enrolled and expect the system to bend over backwards for them. Newsflash: the world doesn’t revolve around your procrastination. The changes don’t disenfranchise anyone who’s remotely serious about voting. They just demand a modicum of foresight.
Luxon’s taking heat for sticking to his guns, but good on him. He’s not caving to the caterwauling from the chattering classes who think democracy should cater to the terminally disorganised. The Electoral Amendment Bill isn’t perfect – Collins is right to point out the prisoner voting ban might raise Bill of Rights issues – but the enrolment cutoff is a no-brainer. It’s about streamlining a system that’s been bogged down by last-minute chaos for years. If you’re one of the 100,000 who can’t get it together to enrol in 1000 days, maybe the problem isn’t the law. Maybe it’s you.
The left will keep screaming about ‘rights’ and ‘disenfranchisement’, but this is just another case of them turning a pile of cow dung into a mountain. Luxon’s changes are a win for common sense and the only people losing out are those who think civic duty is optional. If you want to vote, get off your backside and enrol. It’s not rocket science and it’s not oppression. It’s just adulthood.
