Make It 16: The people, their story and the campaign to lower the voting age
Channel: Trust Democracy NZ
Date: 2022-12-10

Trust Democracy welcomed campaigners from Make It 16 to a conversation about their work to lower the voting age in Aotearoa New Zealand. In just two years, the non-partisan, youth-led Make It 16 has: 

•    Launched a court case (and been to court three times!)
•    Made submissions to Parliament
•    Given lots of talks in schools
•    Been the subject of a documentary by The Spinoff
•    Created a petition that gained thousands of signatures. 

In July 2022, Make It 16 took its case to the Supreme Court to argue that preventing 16 and 17 year olds from voting is unjustified age discrimination under the Bill of Rights.

On 2 November, the Court published it ruling, which was in favour of Make It 16. Parliament must formally respond to its ruling within 6 months.

Party leaders and MPs staked out positions within hours. Commentators were opining just about as quickly. There does not appear to be enough support to meet the 75%-of-MPs-in-agreement threshold for changing the voting age for general elections. There might be sufficient support to make 16 year olds eligible to vote in local body elections.

In all the hubbub, what was it again that drove Make It 16 to take their case all the way to the Supreme Court? What animated them to organise a petition, visit schools, etc? What do they make of what’s happened since the ruling? What has been their experience of our political system?

After watching the video, visit www.makeit16.org.nz to learn more about the campaign and the latest news.