Nearly one quarter million eligible-to-vote New Zealanders do not even know there is an election this year.
National Manager Murray Wicks says they are alarmed at the number of people who do not know an election is only months away.
He says over half of Pacific Islanders and young people, and just under half of Maori and Asian people do not have a clue.
Almost 240,000 people still are not enrolled to vote.
I find it hard to get excited about this bunch. When I was a teenager I was one of them. The only reason I voted was because my mother badgered me into it. My vote would have cancelled out one from somebody who had invested heaps of energy and thought into which party to choose. Leave them alone, I say.
I mean, isn't this just another example of wiping people's bottoms for them? The Electoral Commission will spend a fortune in sending out forms to every enrolled voter and the bulk will be binned. Absolute waste. Let people take some responsibility for organising and educating themselves. Voting is a right but it is also a privilege. Allow people to value it as such.
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3 comments:
Such people should not vote, and don't deserve to.
The real question is whether - as a general rule - people who gain more from the state than they pay in taxes should be allowed to vote.
If there can be "no taxation without representation" then surely there must be "no representation without taxation".
If you're not paying tax on private sector income - you shouldn't get to vote. After all, it wasn't that long ago when civil servants, teachers, university lecturers (especially in politics) would not vote as as matter of integrity. That needs to come back: and similarly, those benefiting from other's largess cannot be allowed to be involved in setting tax rates or benefit levels (or the minimum wage): the conflict of interest is so great.
Anon - I sort of agree. I spend a lot of time on politics and contribute way more than I get out of the government. My vote is cancelled out by a bludger.
Brian Smaller
"After all, it wasn't that long ago when civil servants, teachers, university lecturers (especially in politics) would not vote as as matter of integrity."
Anon, is that true? I never knew that. When was that the practice? I'd be most interested to know.
It is certainly the honourable thing to do. No wonder it's gone by the wayside ...
I actually thought the news was good news. The morons would largely only vote for the parties I most despise anyway!
:)
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