New Zealanders in Foreign Climes - Should They Get the Vote?

Abstract

This paper will argue that the law regulating which New Zealanders living overseas can vote, including the more relaxed rules put in place for the 2023 election, is too restrictive. It will argue that expatriates who have a demonstrable sufficient connection to New Zealand should be entitled to vote in our elections and that this connection is best shown by granting the right to vote to all those who have been enrolled to vote in New Zealand at some point within the last nine years.

Keywords: New Zealand, elections, expatriate voters, suffrage