History of voting in New Zealand

Voting in New Zealand was introduced after colonisation by British settlers.

The first notable election held in the new colony was the election of the first Wellington Town council pursuant to the Municipal Corporations Act in October 1842. It was open to all "Burgessers". These were undoubtedly male only, though it is not clear whether it was only Europeans who were permitted to vote and what age restrictions that applied. Notably there did not seem to have been a property requirement. In place of that was a one-pound poll tax. This led to accusations of vote buying by those wealthy enough to pay for the registration of indigent electors, however the practice was so prevalent all those candidates who were ultimately successful used the tactic. In contrast to later national elections this local election also saw the emergence of a nascent working class party under the auspices of the Working Men's Association and the Mechanic's Institute.

The first national elections in New Zealand took place in 1853, the year after the British government passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. This measure granted limited self-rule to the settlers in New Zealand, who had grown increasingly frustrated with the colonial authorities (and particularly with the nearly unlimited power of the Governor). The Constitution Act established a bicameral parliament, with the lower house (the House of Representatives) elected every five years.

Initially, the system set standards for suffrage relatively high. To vote, one needed to fall into all of the following categories:

In theory, this would have allowed Māori men to vote, but electoral regulations excluded communally-held land from counting towards the property-qualification (quite a common restriction in electoral systems of the time). In these circumstances, many Māori (most of whom lived in accordance with traditional customs of land-ownership) could not vote. Historians debate whether or not the system deliberately excluded Māori in this way. There was concern amongst many settlers that the "uncivilized" Māori would be, if enfranchised, a voting bloc with the numerical strength to outvote Europeans. However, most Māori had little interest in a "settler parliament" that they saw as having little relevance to them.

Despite the exclusion of Māori and of women, New Zealand's voting franchise appeared highly liberal when compared to that of many other countries at the time. At the time of the passing of the Constitution Act, an estimated three-quarters of the adult male European population in New Zealand had the right to vote. This contrasts with the situation in Britain, where the equivalent figure approximated to a fifth of the adult male population.

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