This week National Party leader Christopher Luxon reiterated his stance that National will not work with Te Pati Māori, citing for his reaon that he believes that Te Pati Māori policies are divisive and trotting out the phrase “one person, one vote”. Putting aside the hideous race-baiting and a return to the Iwi / Kiwi campaigning that mickysavage wrote about, I thought it was a good idea to look into the ‘one person, one vote’ claim. This isn’t the first time that National has used the phrase, and ACT love to use it as well.
So the question is, when in our nation’s history have we had a situation where ‘one person one vote’ for all over 18 has occurred? A look at our electoral past reveals that this has never been the case and shows that once again National want to live in a world where white privileged men have all the say and the rest of us need to shut up and put up.
Here is the historical proof.
Prior to 1853 we had no elections in Aotearoa New Zealand. In 1840 after the signing of Te Tiriti, Aoterora NZ was a dependency of New South Wales with our laws arranged across the Tasman by the governor of NSW Sir George Gipps and his legislative council. In 1841 we became a separate Crown Colony to New South Wales but with a similar arrangement. William Hobson was ourt first governor and he, along with his legislative council ruled. The legislative council was made up of seven Pākehā men – the Executive Council of the colonial secretary, the attorney-general and the colonial treasurer, three justices of the peace and Hobson himself. Hobson was replaced by Robert FitzRoy in 1843 and then George Grey in 1845.
1853 saw the first general election in Aotearoa New Zealand after the 1852 New Zealand Constitution Act (UK) established a system of representative government. Only European males over 21 who owned, leased or rented property of a certain value. It is decided that elections are to be held every 5 years. No prisoners were eligible to vote until the completion of their sentence.
1867 – All Māori men over 21 become eligible to vote, but only in one of four Māori only electorates. Māori men can also now stand for Parliament. A small number of Māori who owned individal freehold land were still allowed to vote in European electorates.
1879 – “Universal” male suffrage introduced. All European men over 21 can vote regardless of whether they owned or rented property. But an amendment to the Electoral Act meant former prisoners could not register to vote again until 12 months had passed since their sentence had finished – Qualification of Electors Act 1879, s 2(4).
1890 – New Zealand’s first “one man, one vote” election. Electoral law was changed so no one could vote in more than one general electoral district, ending the long-standing practice of ‘plural voting’ by those who owned property in more than one electorate.
1893 – New Zealand women able to vote for the first time. A small number of Māori women –those defined as ‘half-castes’ in the terminology of the time, or those who owned freehold property – could have chosen to enrol in a general electorate and voted on election day of 28 November, but the majority of Māori women voted in the Māori seats which were contested on 20 December 1893. Quick note that although women were able to vote in elections, it took another 26 years before women could stand as candidates for Parliament.
1905 – Special votes are cast for the first time in a general election by registered voters away from their electorate on polling day. This provision did not apply to voters in Māori seats who continued to vote without registration. At the same time, The Electoral Act 1905 changed the scope of prisoner enfranchisement again, denying the right to vote to anyone with a sentence longer than one year’s imprisonment – Electoral Act 1905 s29(1).
1922 – residents of Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands were able to vote for the first time in NZ history. Previous to this they were subject to taxation without representation.
1949 – Māori electoral rolls were used for the first time, which also meant that Māori voters could now cast a special vote if they were away from their electorate on polling day.
1951 – Voting in general seats and Māori seats occurs on the same day for the first time.
1952 – Chinese minorities were finally granted the right to become naturalised NZ citizens, meaning they were finally able to vote and participate in political arenas. Despite first arriving in the 1860s, this right to become citizens are participate in NZ democracy had been denied to them for nearly 100 years.
1956 – The Elctoral Act is amended again and disqualifies all prisoners who are serving a sentence at the time of an election – Electoral Act 1956 s42(1)(b).
1969 – the voting are is lowered from 21 to 20.
1974 – the voting age is lowered to 18.
1975 – a short lived amendment to the Electoral Act 1975 saw the removal the provision that denied prisoners they right to vote. This only lasted to 1977 when the law reverted to the 1956 disqualification from voting for all prisoners.
1996 – NZ’s first general election under the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system occurred. This meant that all New Zealanders were able to have two votes, one for the MP to represent them in Parliament and one for the party they wanted to see in government. It also saw the first coalition government since the 1930s.
2023 – currently landlords who own properties in two different parts of the country, or in two different wards or local board areas in one municipality (ie Auckland) can vote in local body elections where they own property. This has been the case since the 1800s, probably since the first local election as voting rights in the 19th century were always tied to how much property a person owned. Bizarrely, even an organisation is eligible to vote under this plural voting rule that covers the ratepayer roll. An organisation – sports clubs, community-owned halls and businesses – that pay rates on a property it owns can nominate someone to cast a vote in council elections on it’s behalf.
In conclusion, as the historical record shows, there has only been one general election where we could claim ‘one person, one vote’ for all people in Aotearoa New Zealand over the age of 18, which was 1975. However, that has never been the case in local body elections. It is time for National to stop the fiction around voting eligibility and start dealing in facts.
Seddonville Miner