A complaint was passed on to police relating to Benedict Ong buying copies of the Otago Daily Times and handing them out during the election campaign, electionz.com chief returning officer Warwick Lampp confirmed.
The complaint was about alleged "treating", he said.
"The validity of that and whether that is an offence is for the police to determine."
A complaint was laid with the electoral officer, who passed it on to police, as required by law, he said.
Preliminary results for the city council showed Mr Ong was successfully elected at the weekend.
On September 19, the ODT published a photo of Mr Ong delivering newspapers on a skateboard. He bought 1000 copies of the ODT’s September 18 edition to give away.
Mr Ong had an election advertisement in this edition.
"Treating" is described in the Local Electoral Act 2001 as corruptly providing entertainment or provisions for the purpose of influencing people to vote, or refrain from voting, and for the purpose of "obtaining his or her election".
Police said they were generally unable to respond to queries seeking to establish whether specific individuals or organisations were under investigation.
Mr Ong suggested the ODT should "allow the electoral process to run its course".
In the candidates’ booklet, Mr Ong said his principal place of residence was not in the Dunedin City Council area.
The ODT asked Mr Ong, who has a minimal online presence, where he had been living in the past couple of years, if he intended to move to Dunedin and, if so, how he was getting on with finding a place.
He replied: "My house hunting for my lifetime home in my home town does not seem newsworthy, but our real estate agents and building inspectors in our community should know me quite well."
The ODT asked electoral officer Anthony Morton about possible breaches by other candidates, such as regarding sign rules.
Mr Morton said he was focused on processing special votes and would respond after final results had been released.
The results are expected to be released tomorrow.
Councillors are due to be sworn into office at the end of this month.
Mr Ong said he was "getting ready to serve".
