A sweeping review into the country's electoral system is recommending the voting age be lowered to 16, a 3.5 per cent party threshold, and a public referendum on a longer Parliamentary term.

An independent panel of legal experts has been considering public submissions on nearly every aspect of electoral law, commissioned by former Justice Minister Kris Faafoi in May last year.

After 58 public meetings and more than 1700 submissions it is now reporting a swathe of draft recommendations to make electoral laws 'fairer, clearer and more accessible'.

"There have been piecemeal changes to electoral law over many years, including some recently, but this review is an opportunity to step back and look at the bigger picture," says panel chair Deborah Hart.

The draft recommendations include:

• Lowering the voting age for general elections to 16 and extend overseas voting rules
• Extending voting rights to all prisoners, not just those sentenced to less than a three-year jail term
• Holding a referendum on extending the Parliamentary term from three to four years
• Lowering the party vote threshold from 5 to 3.5 per cent and abolishing the coat-tail rule
• Restricting political donations to registered voters, rather than organisations, and capping them at $30,000 to each party and its candidates per electoral cycle while reducing the amount that can be anonymously donated
• Rewriting the Electoral Act to modernise its language (e.g. eliminating references to faxes)
• Requiring the Electoral Commission to give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi.

The interim report will undergo a second round of public consultation until July 17 before the panel hands the final copy to the government at the end of November.

-Anneke Smith/RNZ.