Geraldine people say they don’t want to be lumped in with Queenstown, Wanaka and other towns in the Waitaki voting district.
The Electoral Commission is seeking views about proposed electorate boundary changes and seven Geraldine submitters say they identify with the Rangitata electorate rather than Waitaki.
Rangitata takes in Mid Canterbury and Timaru.
There were no submissions on changes to the Rangitata electorate to include Rakaia, which was previously part of the Selwyn electorate.
Geraldine resident Jan Oliver, in a submission to the commission, said she had been a resident of Geraldine for over 50 years and never missed voting in a general election.
She said Geraldine was connected to Timaru for its local government, health care and education and the town was just 30 minutes away.
"It makes no sense to me that Geraldine is lumped in with Queenstown, Wanaka, Cromwell, Alexandra, Oamaru, Tekapo and Twizel and that our elected representative resides in Oamaru."
Other submitters said Geraldine identified with Timaru and Ashburton.
Mike Clare said he accepted the rationale for population determining boundaries, but including Geraldine in the greater Waitaki was bizarre.
"It’s obvious whoever did this has no concept of the topography and roading. Please show some commonsense."
Alister France said Geraldine had been an orphan area of interest for many years. But it would be better for the town to be in the Rangitata electorate, while Waitaki could gather more areas of its interest in the south.
The commission will hold public hearings of objections and counter-objections next month on all electorate boundaries, with a final decision in April.
Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon had pushed for Rakaia to be in the Rangitata electorate.
"There’s a requirement for them to consider communities of interest, and that’s the argument I put to them over areas like Rakaia, Chertsey, Lauriston, Dorie and Pendarves being included with Ashburton rather than Akaroa and Rolleston.
"Geraldine is in a similar position where for a number of years they’ve been part of the Timaru district but not in the same electorate as Timaru itself, so I can completely understand their desire to be part of the Rangitata electorate. Unfortunately the requirements around population are very tight, so it’s difficult to see how Geraldine can be included without major changes elsewhere."
