95bFM The Court Of Appeal has acknowledged Aotearoa's voting age is discriminatory
28 April, 2022
Interview by Emilia Sullivan, adapted by Jack Horsnell
Co-Director of Make it 16, Sanat Singh, hopes a declaration of inconsistency by the Supreme Court will show the government that there is demand for a change. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
A youth-led campaign to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote has been granted leave to appeal in the Supreme Court.
While the Court of Appeal agreed that barring teenagers from voting was in fact unjustified age discrimination, they stopped short of making a formal declaration.
Co-Director of Make it 16, Sanat Singh, told Emilia Sullivan on 95bFM's The Wire that they are pleased with this outcome.
"It's great the Supreme Court granted us leave, and we're all very enthusiastic that the courts in New Zealand recognise that there is unjustified age discrimination."
While the courts can't directly lower the voting age, Make It 16 hopes that a declaration of inconsistency by the Supreme Court will show the government that there is demand for a change.
"What we're hoping to do throughout the course of this campaign is to develop enough public support for lowering the voting age," he said.
Singh said that drumming up public support will give a voice to many 16 and 17-year-olds, who he believes are the only group in Aoteroa who understand the importance of voting but still can't vote.
Make It 16 believes that with the current political climate affecting nearly everyone in the country, it is becoming more and more important for a whole new group of people to have their say.
"I think the modern political scene is defined by crisis and emergency. COVID-19 has left a lot of cracks in our education system and worsened inequities that already existed within education and healthcare, especially when it comes to Māori outcomes."
A criticism that many groups opposed to lowering the voting age have is that teenagers will just vote the same way as their parents.
Singh responded to this criticism, saying that time and time again, 16 and 17-year-olds have come out in support of political ideas that are separate from what their families believe.
"When it comes to things like School Strike For Climate and Black Lives Matter, we see young people get involved with issues that are specific to them."
Make It 16 would like to see more civic engagement education being promoted in schools to allow teens to form opinions of their own and really grasp how the Government in New Zealand operates.
While attempts to lower the voting age by the group in 2020 and 2021 were unsuccessful, Singh sees this latest victory as a step closer to achieving their goal.
Make It 16 wants the legal voting age to be lowered before the local government elections on 8 October, and believe it could provide a good testing ground for future elections with 16 and 17-year-olds voting.
Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
