As election day approaches I still don’t know what or who to vote for. I sometimes think I will just not do it. Refuse to participate. Abstain from voting, on principle, because I hate them all and there is no-one worth voting for. But then I think about the individuals in our prisons that don’t have that option. Banned from participation in the democratic process. Why?  I try to think of valid reasons for this denial of a basic human right. It surely can’t be over fears the prison population could be large enough to swing an election. Polling within prisons would seem to be straight-forward enough. Campaigning would be an interesting experience. As a nation we should recognise the fact that this is wrong. We should be showing the inmates of these institutions that they are part of our society. That they are equally responsible for choosing the representatives that make the rules we are expected to live by. The very same rules that were broken to result in incarceration. Lastly the sorriest group, the wrongly convicted. The possibility of even one innocent person being denied the right to vote is one too many.

As I have previously implied I would like to vote in the Tai Tokerau electorate but I’m denied this basic right because I’m not Maori. Not even a little. Not even a fingernail. As a child growing up I did feel a bit Maori. Our Maori friends and neighbours often said I did things in a Maori way. I would like to be on the Maori roll so I could vote for Kelvin Davis. I’ve said before that although I don’t know him or know much about him, I think he’d do well for Labour. And I want to do something for Labour. After I had been made redundant and been struggling financially. Going from sub-contracting on short term projects to the benefit and back repeatedly. It was Labour’s policies when Helen Clark was in power that gave me a hand up, retrained me for work that was in demand, and helped me find the job I still have now, ten years later. But even though I feel I owe them something  I can’t vote for those losers simply because they are such losers, but voting for Davis may have eased my conscience. Labour’s policies also helped me by providing affordable night classes, enabling me to improve myself and improve my chances of advancement at work. I believe National scrapped both those initiatives soon after coming to power. That reminds me, John Key is talking tax cuts again. Please no. I still remember the disappointment I felt when he was first elected, supposedly borrowing up large overseas to fund tax cuts so we could all be a little better off.  I realised after the first time I got paid that there was less money in the bank, not more. The ACC levy had increased a larger amount than the tax had decreased. I saw then that John Key fiddles with the truth in a similar way to how he fiddles the numbers. I also hear that Winston Peters publicly suggested a coalition with Labour might happen. I think this is a sure sign Winston is leaning towards National and is trying to put them under pressure so they are more likely to agree to his demands. I’d bet some of his demands are pretty outrageous. I wonder what he’s angling for, deputy prime minister? Or foreign minister? I don’t think so. Too much real work and he’s done those before… More likely the justice portfolio. He would love that irony of taking Collins’ old job. I think he dislikes her almost as much as I do.

Main points; votes for inmates, hospital inmates too. Also stamp out racism in our electoral system.  Let anybody choose to be on the Maori roll. How can a pakeha be able to be a candidate in a Maori seat but unable to vote in it. This is not fair.

Next; can I vote for smelly hippies?