Judge knocks back campaign to lower the voting age to 16

A campaign to lower the voting age to 16 has failed to win over a judge in a preliminary legal argument seeking to advance the cause.

The campaign had wanted a High Court judge to declare that the current minimum voting age of 18 discriminated on the basis of age.

Any decision to lower the minimum voting age would be for Parliament to make but a judge’s declaration would have helped clarify the law.

In a decision issued from the High Court in Wellington on Wednesday, Justice Jan-Marie Doogue said restricting voting to people aged 18 was a justified limit on the right not to be subject to age discrimination.

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She said other New Zealand laws put the line between adults and children at 18 years, it was within the range of reasonable alternatives, and the vast majority of countries had a voting age of 18.

The issues were complex and wide-ranging policy work would be needed before it could be decided that the age to vote could be changed, she said.

The law was contradictory in saying that the right to vote was guaranteed in the Bill of Rights for citizens 18 years and older, but the right not to be subject to age discrimination applied to those aged 16 and over.

A vote in the 2020 general election included having a say on referenda on legalising recreational use of cannabis and end of life choice.

The judge said debate about the voting age should be encouraged and had increased in recent years.

“Age may be an imperfect proxy for maturity or competence; there will always be precocious children above, and incompetent adults below, the line wherever it is drawn.”

But a “bright line” was reasonable when setting the limit for the population overall, she said.