The National Party's been accused of bad politics - over a potential conflict in new prisoner voting legislation
The National Party's been accused of bad politics - over a potential conflict in new prisoner voting legislation
25 June 2020
The Registration of Sentenced Prisoners Amendment Bill passed last night, giving prisoners serving a sentence of no more than three years the right to vote.
The Green Party proposed two amendments to the Bill: one which extended the right to vote to all prisoners and another taking away the Electoral Commission's power to remove disqualified voters from enrolling.
The first amendment was almost unanimously voted down - with just Green MPs supporting.
But - the second was backed by the National Party... and passed... creating a possible conflict in the law.
Justice Minister Andrew Little says it was mindless politics from National... and it'll be corrected in the House next week.
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