Right to Vote campaign

Date: November 2018

JustSpeak believes that in a fair and democratic society all members should have the right to vote, and people living in prisons are part of our society.

In 2010 the National Party put forward the Electoral (Disqualification of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill. This bill resulted in all sentenced prisoners being banned from voting in the general elections. Consequently, by the 2017 election, around 10,000 prisoners were disqualified from voting in the general election.

Alongside others including Authur Taylor and the Waitangi Tribunal, we successfully campaigned to restore voting rights to people serving a sentence of three years or less. 

The campaign included: 

• 3724 signatures on the #Righttovote petition.

• Over 15 media appearances on prisoner voting rights.

• Two submissions on the Electoral Amendment Bill.

• Appearing on “Alice Snedden’s Bad News: Prisoner Voting Rights,” with over 12,000 views.

• Read the campaign report here. 

We continue to advocate for restoring voting rights for all people in prison.