Prisoner voting rights: no way to reconcile government policy with potential BORA breach

A parliamentary select committee has declined to act on advice from Attorney-General Judith Collins KC that reinstituting a blanket ban on prisoner voting is unjustified and inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (BORA).

Collins raised concerns about aspects of the Electoral Amendment Bill to Parliament last July, and the Justice Select Committee last week released a report addressing the matters she raised.

One of the major issues was banning prisoners from participating in elections, which Collins said breached BORA s12, which says every New Zealand citizen aged 18 years or over has the right to vote.

The Attorney-General, while recognising that s12 was not an absolute right, concluded “the blanket disenfranchisement of prisoners proposed by the bill cannot be justified”.