Mōrena
Newsroom and RNZ have stories this morning on the Government's plan to revoke
voting rights for prisoners serving a sentence of less than three years - links below.
Karl, would you like Jessie and me to prepare an email to staff on this?
Newsroom https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/04/30/government-to-reinstate-full-
prisoner-voting-ban/
RNZ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/559446/prisoner-voting-ban-to-be-
brought-back-paul-goldmsith
Clare
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Karl Le Quesne
From: Clare
@elections.govt.nz>
Sent: Wednesday, 30 April 2025 7:48 am
To: Karl Le Quesne <
@elections.govt.nz>; Kristina Temel
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Suzanne Knight-Tinirau <
@elections.govt.nz>; Martin Rodgers
@elections.govt.nz>; Anusha Guler
<
@elections.govt.nz>; Jessie
@elections.govt.nz>
Subject: Prisoner voting media stories
Mōrena
Newsroom and RNZ have stories this morning on the Government's plan to revoke
voting rights for prisoners serving a sentence of less than three years - links below.
Karl, would you like Jessie and me to prepare an email to staff on this?
Newsroom https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/04/30/government-to-reinstate-full-
prisoner-voting-ban/
RNZ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/559446/prisoner-voting-ban-to-be-
brought-back-paul-goldmsith
Clare
Get Outlook for iOS
From:
Kristina Temel
To:
Lucy Hickman
Subject:
Getting your approval to go back to MOJ re prisoner voting proposal
Date:
Wednesday, 26 March 2025 11:54:00 am
Attachments:
image001.jpg
image002.jpg
Briefing - Additional electoral reforms - updated and draft Cabinet papers - signed by Min.pdf
Paper 4- Cabinet paper - Disqualification of sentenced prisoners - For Min Consult (25-03).docx
Kia ora Lucy,
Just looping you in as Acting CEO.
Are you comfortable that I go back to the Ministry as follows?
Kia ora Hayley,
Here is some information re the operational implications for the Electoral Commission.
Prisoners will be eligible to vote within the electorate where they last resided for one month or more if they are:
Being held on remand
Serving a sentence on home detention or probation
Have a sentence of imprisonment of less than 3 years and were sentenced prior to the commencement of
the amendments removing the right to vote for sentenced prisoners.
We will also continue to be required to provide services for people in police cells.
We will need to update the guidance for our advance voting teams for prisons.
We will need to update prison voting collateral and information for Corrections.
These resources are being prepared anew for the election so there are no significant cost implications.
The changes will apply to persons sentenced from commencement, including for the 2026 general election and
any by-elections arising from commencement.
We will need to update guidance for candidates re eligibility including handbooks, nomination forms and
resources in the candidate hub. We will need to update guidance on our websites re eligibility to enrol and vote.
Does not affect candidate video content so no cost implications.
There will be process changes for Corrections including the prisons operations manual particularly around
receipt of prisoners into prison. They are currently required to provide information to the Commission within 7
days on those that are not eligible and need to be removed from the roll as well as provide information to
prisoners being received that are eligible on enrolling and forwarding the applications. The former will increase
as a proportion, the latter will cease. Under the proposal Corrections will retain the responsibility for facilitating
enrolment upon release and this will also need to increase.
If the Bill is enacted, all new prisoners would meet the disqualification criteria. This will require more people to
be looked up and removed from the rolls. The Commission will also have to re-enrol more prisoners after their
sentence ends. We anticipate that while this will increase the volume of transactions we have to process, it will
be manageable within current resources.
Eligibility re prisoners is not discussed on the enrolment form as removals are dealt with through the
Corrections notification provisions in section 81 of the Electoral Act - so no changes to enrolment forms or the
enrol online system are required.
The enrolment system does not record prisoner status, so there are no changes required in the enrolment
system.
Following the introduction of the 2010 amendments an issue arose related to a category of prisoners who
were:
sentenced before 16 December 2010
but who were out of prison at that time and therefore entitled to vote when the law took effect (assuming
they met the other qualifications: NZ citizen or permanent resident, at least 18 etc.), and
were then recalled to prison to continue serving their sentences1.
Unless there is some other reason that these people were disqualified to vote as at 15 December 2010 or if they
have now been sentenced for a new offence after 16 December 2010, it was argued that they are entitled to
vote, even though, if the law had never changed, they would have been disqualified from voting. As at April
2013, this was alleged to affect up to 37 prisoners serving life sentences (31) and preventive detention (6), and a
further 160 who were back in prison having been recalled for finite sentences. Can we ensure that this scenario
is clearly dealt with in the legislation? This might be something to also discuss with Corrections.
Ngā mihi
Kristina
Kristina Temel | Manager, Legal Regulation and Policy |
Electoral Commission | Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri
PO Box 3220 | Level 10, 34 – 42 Manners Street
| Wellington
| 6140
Phone +
| vote.nz | elections.nz
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