2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum explained

See also: Euthanasia in New Zealand.

Do you support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force?
Country:New Zealand
Yes:1,893,290
No:979,079
Invalid:35,702
Electorate:3,549,564
Map:2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum results.svg

The 2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum was a binding referendum held in New Zealand on 17 October 2020, on the question of whether to legalise euthanasia via the End of Life Choice Act 2019.[1] The vote was held in conjunction with the 2020 general election, and official results were released on 6 November 2020. It was accepted by New Zealand voters, with 65.1% in support and 33.7% opposed.

The act came into force on 7 November 2021, twelve months after the final vote count was announced.[2] The End of Life Choice Act legalises voluntary euthanasia for those with a terminal illness and less than six months left to live, if confirmed to be eligible by two doctors.[3] New Zealand is the first country to have put euthanasia legalisation to a referendum.[4]

Votes for the End of Life Choice referendum were included on the same ballot as the 2020 cannabis referendum, which sought to legalise recreational cannabis.

Background

See main article: Euthanasia in New Zealand. Prior to 2021, euthanasia was illegal in New Zealand, with it being illegal to "aid and abet suicide" under section 179 of the Crimes Act 1961.

Two earlier attempts to legalise euthanasia failed to get through the New Zealand Parliament. Hawkes Bay National MP Michael Laws's 1995 Death with Dignity Bill failed with 61 votes against and 29 supporting, and NZ First MP Peter Brown's 2003 Death with Dignity Bill failed in its first reading by 60 votes opposing to 58 supporting.[5]

End of Life Choice Bill

See main article: End of Life Choice Act 2019. ACT party MP David Seymour entered the End of Life Choice Bill to the member's bill ballot in October 2015.[6] The bill passed its first reading 76–44 in December 2017 and its second reading 70–50 in June 2019.[7] [8] In the committee of the whole House, support from the New Zealand First party became conditional on a referendum to decide whether the law should come into force. An amendment to require a referendum passed 69–51,[9] and the bill passed its third reading with the same numbers on 13 November.[10] The bill received royal assent on 16 November 2019, becoming the End of Life Choice Act 2019.

Referendum structure

Following the third reading, the act was written such that it could only come into force following a majority support at a referendum, which would make the legislation active twelve months after the final vote count. If the majority had opposed the legislation in the referendum (or any subsequent referendum, if the first had been voided), it would have been repealed by 16 November 2024, five years after it received royal assent.

The wording of the referendum was also written into the act, and asked voters:[11]

Do you support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force?

Public opinion

Support for assisted dying between 2000 and 2019 averaged at around 68%, and prior to the act passing into law in 2019, support for some kind of medically assisted euthanasia for the terminally ill was polled at 74% in April,[12] and 72% in July of 2019.[3]

During the 16-month-long select committee stage of the End of Life Choice Bill, 39,000 public submissions were made, with 90% of submitters opposed to it. Over one thousand doctors signed an open letter in mid-2019 saying that they "want no part in assisted suicide".[13]

Through 2020, following the act's assent, public support for it polled at 60–65%:

DatePolling organisationSample sizeForAgainstUndecidedLead
data-sort-value="2020-10-14"10–14 Oct 20201 News Colmar Brunton1,005 60 33 7 27
data-sort-value="2020-09-21"17–21 Sep 20201 News Colmar Brunton1,008 64 25 11 39
data-sort-value="2020-08-23"20–23 Aug 2020Research New Zealand1,003 62 24 14 38
data-sort-value="2020-07-13"9–13 Jul 2020Research New Zealand1,012 64 18 18 46
data-sort-value="2020-03-08"6-8 Mar 2020Research New Zealand1,000 60 21 19 39
data-sort-value="2020-02-12"8–12 Feb 20201 News Colmar Brunton1,004 65 25 9 40
data-sort-value="2019-12-02"27 Nov – 2 Dec 2019Research New Zealand750 70 24 6 48
data-sort-value="2019-11-17"17–26 Nov 2019Horizon Research1,521 70 30 – 40
data-sort-value="2019-07-24"20–24 Jul 20191 News Colmar Brunton1,003 72 20 7 52
data-sort-value="2019-04-19"19–29 Apr 2019Horizon Research 1,341 74 19 7 55

Campaigning and endorsements

The rules regarding campaigning for referenda are the same as for general elections. All advertisements must carry a promoter statement, stating the name and physical address of the promoter. It is illegal to campaign on polling day, or within a 10abbr=NaNabbr= radius of an advance polling booth.

During the regulated period, which ran from 18 August to 16 October 2020, promoters have to declare their campaign expenses and there are limits on how much they may spend on referendum campaigning. The maximum expense limit was $338,000 per referendum for those promoters registered with the Electoral Commission, and $13,600 per referendum for unregistered promoters.[14]

Results

Unlike the general election, a preliminary count for the euthanasia referendum was not conducted on election night (17 October 2020). Instead, the referendum votes were counted alongside the mandatory election recount.[15]

All voting papers, counterfoils and electoral rolls are returned to the electorate's returning officer for counting. During the count, the returning officer approves and counts any special votes, and compiles a master electoral roll to ensure no-one has voted more than once.[16] To simplify processing and counting, overseas votes are sent and counted at the Electoral Commission's central processing centre in Wellington, rather than to electorate returning officers.[17]

Preliminary results for the referendums were released by the Electoral Commission on 30 October 2020. These results had 65.2% of people in support of the legislation.[18]

Following the counting of the 480,000 special votes, official results for the general election and referendums were released on 6 November. Based on the final results, 65.1% of people supported the legislation while 33.7% opposed it.[19] Three South Auckland electorates —, and — voted against the End of Life Choices Act, perhaps due to conservative evangelical Pasifika Christianity's strength in those areas. By contrast, over three quarters of and voters supported introduction of the End of Life Choices Act in this referendum. Although these are metropolitan electorates, there were several other electorates that polled over seventy percent support for the proposed legislation that were not necessarily urban.[20]

The new legislation took effect on 7 November 2021.[21] [22]

Option! colspan="2"
Votes
Num.%
Yes1,893,29065.91
No979,07934.09
Total2,872,369100.00
Informal votes35,7021.23
Total votes cast2,908,071100.00
Registered voters and turnout3,549,56482.24

By polling place location

As each polling place had only one ballot box for ordinary referendum votes, ordinary votes were broken down by the general electorate where the polling place was located. Special votes were broken down by electorate. Both ordinary and special votes have been combined in the following table.[23]

Electorate Yes NoInformalTurnout
Num. % Num %
28,88976.888,69023.12417
31,66068.9314,26831.07458
31,74369.1114,18630.89401
22,41757.2516,74042.75575
30,89967.8714,62932.13603
32,79968.8414,84331.16518
33,74570.6414,02329.36432
34,56068.7715,69431.23505
34,64565.8417,97234.16710
29,89068.0317,97231.97416
31,13870.1213,26729.88485
28,86262.1017,61637.90591
29,12763.2216,94236.78627
33,50366.6316,77833.37672
27,56264.8814,92135.12453
26,53663.7715,07636.23404
29,96170.1712,73829.83353
34,95170.0014,97930.00504
19,07858.7213,41141.28583
25,33163.8714,97936.13559
11,77438.3713,41161.63745
18,67746.8421,20153.161,025
24,00562.6814,29537.32561
30,69771.4612,26028.54561
21,32655.6616,99044.34779
32,53070.9513,32129.05519
34,24069.8514,77730.15545
26,34964.6014,43835.40672
31,52666.5715,83533.43461
29,63769.9312,74530.07362
28,00268.0813,12831.92468
34,54267.2516,81932.75636
27,43767.7013,09332.30434
35,02268.0116,47731.99573
25,09162.8314,84237.17483
25,75662.5815,40137.42459
14,86847.5416,40652.46956
27,05065.1214,48634.88563
28,88667.7113,76332.29446
29,77565.5715,63234.43475
29,31265.8015,23634.20396
26,60864.2914,78135.71511
29,50569.9212,69630.08761
29,37664.9415,86235.06582
27,73869.7212,04630.28284
27,66468.8312,52631.17327
28,68866.1214,70233.88410
17,25156.7313,15843.27624
28,66067.5213,78732.48474
27,06167.5512,99832.45370
33,84268.1115,84231.89453
33,64765.5917,65234.41506
25,38058.6817,87241.32695
30,03767.1814,67532.82505
23,26763.9413,12136.06454
24,34664.7713,24135.23419
30,91768.1514,45031.85388
33,29069.3814,69330.62467
28,86268.0313,56631.97401
46,18776.1414,47423.86666
28,94171.3611,61528.64446
28,74964.0416,12835.94483
29,53968.2413,74731.76304
34,82367.8516,50032.15642
28,25963.9015,96536.10623
3,91558.712,75341.29255
3,39060.682,19739.32224
3,98458.192,86241.81240
3,73459.932,49740.07173
3,94259.152,72240.85204
4,15767.631,99032.37185
3,75357.632,75942.37241
Total1,893,29065.91979,07934.0935,702

Notes and References

  1. Web site: End of Life Choice Act 2019 No 67, Public Act 2 Commencement – New Zealand Legislation. 2020-10-12. www.legislation.govt.nz.
  2. Web site: End of Life Choice Act implementation. 2021-07-17. Ministry of Health NZ. en.
  3. News: Jancic . Boris . 13 November 2019 . Euthanasia bill passes final vote, goes to referendum . . 14 November 2019.
  4. News: New Zealand to vote in referendum on euthanasia. Charlotte. Graham-McLay. 13 November 2019. The Guardian. 14 November 2019.
  5. Web site: Assisted dying: New Zealand - New Zealand Parliament . www.parliament.nz . 14 November 2019 .
  6. Web site: David Seymour (New Zealand politician). Seymour. David. Seymour lodges assisted dying Bill. ACT.org.nz. 4 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208154237/http://www.act.org.nz/posts/seymour-lodges-assisted-dying-bill. 8 December 2015. dead.
  7. News: Euthanasia bill passes second reading. The New Zealand Herald. 26 June 2019. 26 June 2019.
  8. News: Euthanasia bill passes second reading in Parliament. 26 June 2019. 26 June 2019. Radio New Zealand.
  9. Web site: Euthanasia bill passes 69-51, sending the final decision to a referendum . Henry. Cooke. Stuff.co.nz. 13 November 2019. 14 November 2019.
  10. Web site: MPs vote in favour of End of Life Choice Bill at final reading . Stuff.co.nz. Henry. Cooke. 13 November 2019. 13 November 2019.
  11. Web site: Referendum on the End of Life Choice Act 2019. referendum.govt.nz. New Zealand Government. 28 January 2020. 14 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200114210128/https://www.referendum.govt.nz/endoflifechoice/index.html. dead.
  12. Web site: Patston . Philip . 2020-01-04 . New poll shows most voters want assisted dying law change . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20200104013809/https://eolc.org.nz/news/7330363 . 2020-01-04 . 2023-10-18 . End-of-Life Choice Society of NZ Inc.
  13. News: Collins . Simon . 1000 Kiwi doctors sign letter against euthanasia . 29 January 2020 . . 22 June 2019.
  14. Web site: Change in regulated period Elections. 2020-08-22. elections.nz. Electoral Commission. en-NZ.
  15. Web site: About the 2020 General Election. vote.nz. Electoral Commission. 2020-09-09. 21 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200921191358/https://www.vote.nz/voting/get-ready-to-vote/about-the-2020-general-election/. dead.
  16. Web site: How are general election votes counted?. Elections.nz. Electoral Commission. 2020-09-10.
  17. Web site: Party Secretary Handbook - 2020 General Election and Referendums. Electoral Commission.
  18. News: 2020-10-30. New Zealand euthanasia: Assisted dying to be legal for terminally ill people. en-GB. BBC News. 2020-10-31.
  19. Web site: Official referendum results released Elections. 2020-11-06. Electoral Commission. en-NZ.
  20. Web site: Referendum Results. Electoral Commission. 1 July 2024. Spreadsheet results for individual electorates at the bottom of the web page.
  21. Web site: Assisted Dying Service . New Zealand Ministry of Health . 7 November 2021.
  22. Web site: Referendum results: End of Life Choice Act passes, legalising assisted dying. 30 October 2020.
  23. Web site: 6 November 2020. 2020 Referendum Results by electorate. Electoral Commission.

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