own and differ in emphasis on some matters. I do not repeat the matters of background covered by Ellen France J, which I adopt. The appeal [75] The applicants in the proceedings are sentenced prisoners who are prevented by the Electoral (Disqualification of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Act 2010 from being eligible to vote. The 2010 Amendment Act disqualified all sentenced prisoners by substitution of a new s 80(1)(d) of the Electoral Act 1993. It extended the pre-existing ineligibility of prisoners serving sentences of three years or more to all sentenced prisoners. [76] The three year disqualification term had originally been included in the Electoral Act 1993 following the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform that such a term was comparable to the proposed loss of voting rights on three years’ absence from New Zealand.94 The same period was also used in the 1993 Act in the disqualification of those detained under mental health provisions.95 [77] The new s 80(1)(d) is expressed to apply only to those sentenced after enactment of the 2010 Amendment Act. For those prisoners already subject to disqualification because their sentences were for three years or more, transitional provisions in s 6 of the 2010 Amendment Act provided “[t]o avoid doubt” that a person disqualified by reason of the former s 80(1)(d) “continues to be disqualified for registration as an elector as if this Act had not been enacted”. [78] With the exception of Arthur William Taylor, all the respondents to the present appeal are prisoners sentenced after enactment of the 2010 Amendment Act. Mr Taylor was already a prisoner sentenced to more than 10 years of imprisonment at the time of the amendment of s 80(1)(d). His disqualification is therefore continued by the transitional provision contained in s 6 of the 2010 Amendment Act. An issue on the appeal (although not in the High Court) is whether Mr Taylor has standing to 94 95 Royal Commission on the Electoral System “Report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System: Towards a Better Democracy” [1986–1987] IX AJHR H3 at [9.21]. Section 80(1)(c).