The right to vote

Voting papers are filling letter boxes around the country as the Local Government elections get underway (although in some areas it probably feels as if they have been going for far too long).

It's hard for some of us to imagine not having the right to vote. However the reality is that not so long ago in New Zealand this was the case for some sectors of the community. And in many parts of the world, people still do not have the right to have a say in who governs their country. Or, if they do, they are terrorised into not exercising that vote.

Democracy, the system of government New Zealand runs by, has been around, purportedly since the time of the Greeks. The Life and Death of Democracy by John Keane is just one of the books on the history of democracy around the world. For a Kiwi view try Class, Gender and the Vote. Of course, democracy isn't the only system of government so check out our catalogue here to find information on others.

Don't forget we have the electoral rolls for all of New Zealand in each of the Rodney Libraries if you need to check anything.

For the upcoming elections, I have found it extremely difficult to find information on where the candidates stand on different issues, all in an easily accessible place. Of course there are Facebook pages and websites for a lot of the main candidates, but it is hard to draw it all together to make any sense out of it. The best that I have come up with is www.elections2010.co.nz which is not the most user friendly but does have more information on it than most.