"Dropkicks? Shouldn’t we make it easier for people to vote?"

The Haps

We want to celebrate the Government letting in overseas building products, but there should never have been restrictions in the first place. For years we’ve said visiting an American Home Depot and realising how we’re ripped off is one of the saddest experiences a New Zealander can have. Finally, Building Consent Authorities must recognise materials that meet deemed overseas standards. The result is many types of plasterboard, for example. Choice and competition are the only way to drive down costs, everything else is just shifting them around.

“Dropkicks? Shouldn’t we make it easier for people to vote?”

So asked the Herald editorial on the weekend. Under the headline there was a long complaint about David Seymour’s quote “I’m a bit sick of dropkicks who can’t get their lives organised to follow the law, which registering to vote is a legal requirement. Then going and voting to tax away hard-working people’s money and have people that make laws that restrict their freedoms.”

He was referring to the Government announcing people will need to register before voting starts, two weeks before election day, not just show up on the day and say they are who they say they are.

He’s right. The Electoral Act says “A person who is qualified to be registered as an elector… and who is in New Zealand must apply… for registration as an elector… within 1 month after …he or she first becomes qualified to be registered as an elector.”

It goes on to say that you commit an offence if you’re not registered, but you get an amnesty if you do register. If caught, you can be fined $100 the first time, $200 the second time. Unless you’ve just got in from overseas or just turned 18, the law says you should be registered to vote.

The good news is you can register in minutes on your phone or laptop, or at a library, or by phoning the electoral commission. It already couldn’t be easier.

So, what to call 400,000 people who registered in the two weeks of early voting, or the 110,000 who showed up to register on Election Day? Ukrainians are going into their fourth winter in foxholes fighting for democracy. What do you call someone who can’t take the time required to book a movie ticket to do a basic civic duty?

Perhaps early registration doesn’t matter?

Richard Prebble explained why it does matter in one of his cogent Herald columns about tight campaigns for Auckland Central. “My team would take the electoral roll door-to-door. We would find discrepancies and occasional electoral fraud. We found 18 people falsely enrolled at one address. It is the publishing of the roll that ensures the integrity of the election.”

It doesn’t take much to sway an election. The closest result in 2023 was a seat won by 4 votes. In any given seat, thousands showed up and registered to vote at the last minute. They don’t have to show ID, just state they are who they say they are. People were being offered food at a Marae polling booth in the electorate with the closest result. None of this does anything for confidence in elections.

We need to believe that the people speaking in Parliament are the people meant to be there. Why follow laws made by a Parliament of imposters? We like to think we Kiwis are immune to the corruption and decline that’s affected nearly every other society at some point, but why would we be?

The real issue here is the epidemic of helplessness infecting New Zealand. The premise of the Herald and other critics is that people are helpless. Too helpless to carry out a process easier than buying Warriors tickets. Instead of them taking some initiative, the Government needs to make it ‘easier,’ even when it’s not clear how it could be any easier.

They seem to think the Government should even be prepared to risk the integrity of elections to encourage participation by people who won’t even meet them halfway. Going through the performance of voting is the holy grail. Nobody’s asking if the underlying process is sound. That about sums up the epidemic of performative politics.

It’s a long time since JFK implored Americans to ‘ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’ According to the Herald and co, it’s ask the Government to make everything easier to the point you don’t need to do anything.

Our country faces serious challenges. Overcoming them will require strength and resourcefulness, from everyone. It will require harnessing the pioneering spirit that built this country. Sadly it has not only faded, but is being dismissed by dropkicks with mediocre attitudes. Imagine what Kate Shepherd would think of people too lazy to register on the electoral roll.