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It can be done. In New Zealand, our indigenous population (Māori) has New Zealand citizenship, and has an opt-in seperate electoral roll which has 7 seats of th

by pryce 7y ago

It can be done. In New Zealand, our indigenous population (Māori) has New Zealand citizenship, and has an opt-in seperate electoral roll which has 7 seats of the 120 seat parliament [1]. Māori citizens have the choice whether to vote on the "General roll" or the "Māori roll". This acts to ensure indigenous people always have a voice in parliament, and is seen as fulfillment of the treaty obligations on which this country is founded. This -combined with "mixed member proportional" style voting largely prevents any attempts at racist gerrymandering. In practice, while the number of seats may not be large, MMP governments frequently are made from coalitions between parties, meaning that both our two largest parties are interested in contesting either the seats themselves or securing an alliance with whichever smaller party might win them, meaning the presence of these seats does translate into actual policy concessions to our indigenous people. I should note here that at the time of its historical origin in 1867, the seperate Māori roll was compulsory for Māori, and was intended as a way to disenfranchise Māori by proportionally reducing their influence. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Māori_electorates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Māori_electorates

disordinary 7y ago
I always thought the Māori electorate was a way to give Māori voting rights while acknowledging that they didn't have the same concept of land ownership as the colonists. At the time voting was tied to land ownership. The Māori electorate is tied to race and not land ownership like the general electorate was.
- pryce 7y ago
  For reference, the Māori seats were created in 1867 during the period where much Māori land was confiscated by govt, provoking wars, and the property ownership requirement for voting in the general roll (basically for "white" people, which in NZ are now referred to as "Pakehā") was scrapped a little over a decade later in 1879; while for almost the next century Māori were forced to participate on only the Māori roll, determining only handful of available seats -effectively forcing them into underrepresentation - until 1976. If we were to say the intent was to "give Māori voting rights", I think it could be far more fairly characterized as "give Māori some voting rights but systematically ensure that this counts for substantially less than their non-Māori peers".

by pryce 7y ago

disordinary 7y ago

I always thought the Māori electorate was a way to give Māori voting rights while acknowledging that they didn't have the same concept of land ownership as the colonists. At the time voting was tied to land ownership. The Māori electorate is tied to race and not land ownership like the general electorate was.

pryce 7y ago
For reference, the Māori seats were created in 1867 during the period where much Māori land was confiscated by govt, provoking wars, and the property ownership requirement for voting in the general roll (basically for "white" people, which in NZ are now referred to as "Pakehā") was scrapped a little over a decade later in 1879; while for almost the next century Māori were forced to participate on only the Māori roll, determining only handful of available seats -effectively forcing them into underrepresentation - until 1976. If we were to say the intent was to "give Māori voting rights", I think it could be far more fairly characterized as "give Māori some voting rights but systematically ensure that this counts for substantially less than their non-Māori peers".