The number of voting papers returned by Queenstown Lakes district residents is tracking slightly ahead of the 2007 figure, council electoral officer Jane Robertson said yesterday.
With the local body election closing at noon tomorrow, Ms Robertson said there had been "a steady stream of people bringing their votes into the office [yesterday] and I gather that much the same has been happening in Wanaka".
A total of 17,420 voting papers were sent out and 7334, or 42%, had been returned, as of yesterday at 3pm.
Just over half of Arrowtown ward voters had returned their papers - 1731 sent and 883 returned, or 51%.
Queenstown Wakatipu ward and Wanaka ward were level-pegging, with 41% of papers sent out returned.
A total of 9335 papers were sent and 3832 were returned by yesterday by Queenstown Wakatipu ward residents. In the Wanaka ward, 6348 papers were sent and 2619 were returned by yesterday.
