Public Address | Cafe | Legal Beagle: Fact-checking Parliament: more prisoners can vote than they think

izogi

Wed, 27 Apr 2016 00:03:40 +1200

The usual argument is that if you are paying rates to a council you should have a say in how those rates are set and how the money is spent.

Sometimes I've wondered if it'd make more sense to just levy rates directly on residents, instead of property owners, which…

Hilary Stace

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 21:38:27 +1200

It will come – 16 and then lower. After all only a few decades ago MPs thought women couldn’t cope with the democratic process

Graeme Edgeler

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 21:10:21 +1200

By the way do was their any significant interest from this committee for lowering the voting age?

The majority was against further consideration, but there was some interest in considering the issue by both the Electoral Commission and opposition members.

Lowering the voting age
Many submitters support lowering the voting…

Sofie Bribiesca

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 16:11:17 +1200

Do you also find it unfair that a parent with a child in a primary school and another at high school gets to vote on the School Boards of both schools,

I guess not but my thought re my vote in Council was that what if someone owns multiple properties…

Jeremy Andrew

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 15:11:49 +1200

I don't really see the problem, as long as its not one vote per property within the local authority.
In theory Bob Jones could have (and possibly has) bought a property in every city and district in NZ. That gets him one vote in every city council and district council…

Hilary Stace

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 14:32:18 +1200

So could you theoretically buy a property in every territorial local authority and vote in each one? That is surely unfair. You should only be able to vote where you live.

Moz

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 13:44:20 +1200

some places overseas was that you had a local education authority that was elected (often it was the local council)

I'm pretty comfortable at an NZ scale saying we do the same thing – about 5M people elect a government that runs the education system. Letting parents/guardians vote for who…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 13:16:14 +1200

The system that used to apply in some places overseas was that you had a local education authority that was elected (often it was the local council) and supervised schools, employed staff and did a lot of work that was easier to scale across several schools.You also had boards of…

Graeme Edgeler

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 12:39:17 +1200

Not to threadjack, but I think everyone in a school's catchment should be able to vote for school boards. Education isn't just a service to the children currently at school, it's a service for the whole community.

And if someone is in more than one catchment, because the zones overlap?

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 12:35:42 +1200

Equally, councils are elected to serve a community and happen to be able…

Graeme Edgeler

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 11:39:11 +1200

I got a flyer saying if I’m enrolled and paying rates in one district and have a property in another I can be eligible to enrol as a ratepayer elector in the other community or local board area. This is for the local authority Elections on October 8 2016. So…

Graeme Edgeler

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 11:34:51 +1200

Does one get automatically removed from the rolls when you are imprisoned? (and automatically reenrolled when released?)

One does get automatically removed when imprisoned. I understand an enrolment form is provided to prisoners as part of the stuff they're given on their release. That isn't automatic.

Moz

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 11:22:46 +1200

Per Hilary, I suspect that people old enough to vote but still imprisoned as children can probably vote. Or do they automatically get transferred to adult prison when they reach voting age?

Hilary Stace

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:44:14 +1200

That ban on prisoners voting is so unfair. The state could start rounding up people and imprison them before elections. It happened in Wellington Central in 1972 when protesters against compulsory military training were imprisoned just before the election and the resulting vote was very close. Although the new Labour…

Sofie Bribiesca

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:58:11 +1200

Another odd situation I noticed the other day when getting the rates bills. I got a flyer saying if I'm enrolled and paying rates in one district and have a property in another I can be eligible to enrol as a ratepayer elector in the other community or local board…

Paul Campbell

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:55:24 +1200

so to sum it up, if you really want to vote you simply need to escape from prison and head down to your polling place (maybe you can get a day release).

Does one get automatically removed from the rolls when you are imprisoned? (and automatically reenrolled when released?)

Public Address

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:55:24 +1200

Discussion from blog post.