How the review of our electoral laws may deprive migrants of the right to vote

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

Independent Electoral Review chair Deborah Hart said the review was about making the system work better for Kiwis. (Video first published June 6, 2023)

Jacob Varghese immigrated to Aotearoa from Kerala, South India in 2016 and has made Ōtautahi home. He works in the technology sector and has a keen interest in trade, immigration and politics.

OPINION: There it was: a smiling selfie of my good friend with a bold “I Voted” sticker proudly pinned to his chest.

“I’m proud to cast my first vote in Aotearoa,” the caption read.

It was 2017, and my friend had just exercised a right many Kiwis take for granted. Only recently, he had called to inform me his residency had finally come through: a landmark moment for most immigrants.

At that time, I was an international student who had just made Ōtautahi-Christchurch my home. I imagined excitedly the day that I too would post a photo like that – I thought about the comments and well-wishes I’d receive from friends and whānau back home, and even the cheeky questions from some keen to know who I’d backed.

After six years of living and working in Ōtautahi, that opportunity has finally arrived for me. I’m one of New Zealand’s newly minted residents, and I’m eager to head to the ballot box this October. I’m looking forward to attending street corner meetings, watching feisty TV debates, and reading Andrea Vance’s and Luke Malpass’ analysis of our options: Chris from the Hutt or Chris from Botany.

Sajida Fozol Karim and Roshidullah Sher Mohamad from Myanmar (centre) arrange to cast special votes in last year’s Palmerston North City Council elections, assisted by democracy and governance administrator Rosa de Souza and volunteer Mohammed Shah. Migrants with permanent residency enjoy voting rights after a year but a review of voting laws has proposed extending that by years.

So you can understand my shock when I read last week that learned members of the Independent Electoral Review Panel have decided to recommend that migrants be stripped of their right to vote. Journalists haven’t focused on this part of the recommendations. If Kiwis remain unaware of this implication, we will permit a covert raid on the rights of many in our community.

The panel recommended “extending the time that permanent residents must spend in Aotearoa New Zealand before gaining the right to vote to one electoral cycle”.In essence, this means that permanent residents will be required to wait three to four years before they are permitted to vote.

You may think that three to four years is reasonable - after all, it can take several years to settle somewhere and call that place home.

However, it typically takes three to four years before a migrant gains residency (and that right to vote), and in recent times that wait has been years longer.

Add to that one electoral cycle, and the result is a tax-paying, law-abiding, contributing member of society waiting close to 10 years before being given an opportunity to fully participate in their community and have a say as to which leaders and laws govern the place that they call home.

The most ridiculous part of this report is that this panel makes this recommendation on false premises: the report argues that permanent residents don’t have “sufficient connection to Aotearoa” and uses this to justify its position that migrants should be denied the right to vote.

The panel also has the audacity to argue that voting is not a high priority for migrants.

Clearly, the panel doesn’t understand migrant communities across Aotearoa, the contributions we make to our communities, the aspirations and hope that we have for our families and our neighbours, and our commitment to call this place home.

Migrants are contributing across our community. They are ED nurses in our stretched hospital departments, construction workers building vital infrastructure, programmers developing cutting-edge technology, or teachers in our local schools. In some cases, they are even seeking political office as candidates for our major and minor political parties.

Jacob Varghese: Clearly, the Electoral Review Panel doesn’t understand migrant communities across Aotearoa.

They are our neighbours, friends, and family.

It is unclear whether the panel’s assumptions stem from lack of understanding or lack of interest or incentive to engage with us. Whatever the cause though, what we do know is that, before we know it, this interim recommendation could be final: picked up by the government of the day and legislated.

Let’s make it clear to this panel and the government of the day that migrants place great value on their voting rights. Let’s refute these baseless and unfortunate comments that migrants don’t have a genuine and sufficient connection to Aotearoa.

I urge all Kiwis – wherever they come from – to let the panel know that it is wrong. Talk to your local representative, write a submission to the review panel, and get to know the migrants in your community. Let’s not allow this covert raid of our rights.

The Electoral Review Panel responded to this article, stating that under the rules for new permanent residents getting the vote, time spent living in the country on other visa types before gaining residency would be credited towards the waiting period, once residency was achieved. That made it unlikely people would have to wait close to 10 years from arriving in New Zealand to receive the vote. As well, while the panel’s report refers to people having to spend a full electoral cycle (as in, the period between two elections) living here with permanent residence before being able to vote, the panel advised that it intended this to be the equivalent number of years of a full electoral cycle – currently three years.
The article was also amended to remove reference to a 75% parliamentary majority vote being required to change rules in the Electoral Act. That requirement applies to changing the voting age.