New Zealand could lower voting age to 16 after court ruling

New Zeland’s Supreme Court found Monday that the country’s current voting age of 18 is discriminatory, forcing parliament to consider whether the age should be lowered. The advocacy group called Make It 16 brought the case in 2020. It asked the court to lower the voting age to include 16- and 17-year-olds. The court said lowering the age is consistent with the country’s Bill of Rights which says New Zealanders are free from age discrimination at 16. However, the court cannot force Parliament to change the voting age. 

Is it likely to be passed? The ruling must now be brought before parliament and reviewed by a select committee. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who leads the liberal Labour party, said Monday she supports lowering the voting age, but legislation to do so would require a 75 percent supermajority to pass parliament. New Zealand’s Green party supports the action, but the National party, the largest opposition party, does not support the measure—Ardern’s Labour Party has not said where it stands. Parliament must deliver a decision within six months of the attorney general notifying the House.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about misconceptions of U.S. voting laws.