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In-person voting and a four-year term should be considered as part of local government reform, North Canterbury mayors say.
Hurunui Mayor Marie Black and Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon say anything which improves efficiency, reduces costs and boosts voter participation should be considered.
Last week Auckland Council announced it would ditch postal voting and move back to in-person voting, following concerns about voter fraud and low turnouts.
It prompted a fresh call from Local Government New Zealand for reform into local elections.
The Hurunui and Waimakariri district councils have proposed forming a new North Canterbury unitary council as part of the Government’s Head Start pathway.
Mrs Black said the local government reform process was an opportunity to have a fresh look at how voting works.
“Certainly there’s a lot of things that could be considered to increase the appetite for voters.
“In-person voting does seem to generate a bit more interest and in a district like ours, with the mail system changing, getting voting papers returned in a timely manner is a challenge.”
Mrs Black said there were “some merits” to considering a four-year term for both local and central government.
“The three-year cycle seems to turn around quite quickly, especially for a new councillor and having an election is quite an expensive exercise.”
Mr Gordon said he was keen to hear from political parties what plans they had for the future of local government.
“Once we see the make up and shape of the future government, then we’ll be able to respond to their policy statements.”
He is open to a four-year term.
“I think it would make sense to have term lengths at national and local level the same length to ensure there is continuity for communities.”
LGNZ appointed an electoral reform working group last year, chaired by Nelson Mayor Dr Nick Smith, which made several recommendations, including returning to in-person voting, four-year terms and the Electoral Commission running elections.
South Wairarapa Mayor Dame Fran Wilde, who chairs LGNZ’s local government systems reference group, said it was time to look at in-person voting.
“The postal system is in significant decline, postal delivery days and post boxes numbers are decreasing.
“LGNZ is calling on all parties to support local elections being run in the same way as general elections, and to prioritise this change in the next term of Parliament.”
Councils can choose to switch to in-person voting.
But LGNZ said it would be more cost-effective and improve voter turnout if elections were run by the Electoral Commission rather than individual councils.
Voter turnout was just 39 percent across the country last year.
The Kaikōura District Council topped the polls with 60.85% of votes returned, while Hurunui’s voter return was 39.55%, Waimakariri 42.91%, Christchurch 38.12% and Auckland 29%.
Auckland Council had to re-run a Local Board election this year, after a court order following suspected postal voting fraud.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
