We should encourage citizenship by only allowing citizens to vote

Jacob Varghese writes:

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.

In my view the panel doesn’t go far enough. New Zealand is almost unique in the developed world in giving the same electoral voting rights to residents as citizens.

I believe we should follow Australia, and restrict the right to vote to citizens. Not to have fewer people voting, but to encourage people who have permanent residency, to become citizens. Shared citizenship is important for a country. It is when a country becomes your home, not just the place you live.

Any change should of course not be retrospective. Once someone is qualified to vote, they should keep it if their circumstances don’t change. So all existing migrants should be grandfathered onto the electoral roll. But we should tell future migrants (and I want more migrants, not less) that we’re glad you’re here, but we want you to become a citizen.