There are a number of historical, cultural, and geopolitical factors specific to New Zealand that help explain both why permanent residents were granted the vote in 1975, and why that decision remains uncontroversial and underresearched almost 40 years later. Although there are limited data with which to identify either positive or negative effects of noncitizen voting in New Zealand, those data that are available tend to suggest that permanent residents vote much less frequently than citizens, making it unlikely that they exercise undue political influence.

Publication details and link to source: Kate McMillan, ‘National Voting Rights for Permanent Residents. New Zealand’s Experience’, in Diego Acosta Arcarazo and Anja Wiesbrock (eds), Global Migration. Old Assumptions, New Dynamics, Volume II, Praeger, 2015: 101-112.