Western Bay of Plenty District Council votes are in for byelections

Chris Dever has been elected to the Ōmokoroa Community Board.

The votes are in for Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s two byelections, to fill the vacant council and community board seats.

Laura Rae has been elected to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council as the Maketu-Te Puke councillor, while Chris Dever has been elected to the Ōmokoroa Community Board.

Preliminary results for the byelections, which closed July 18 are:

Maketu – Te Puke Ward

Laura Rae – 1566 votes

Bernard Holmes – 663

Anthony Te Uruhi Wihapi – 502

The voter return for this election was 20.92 per cent (2744 votes).

Laura Rae has been elected to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council as the Maketu-Te Puke councillor.

Ōmokoroa Community Board

Chris Dever – 622 votes

Murray Marshall – 533

Steve Ling – 379

The voter return for this byelection was 36.84 per cent (1543 votes).

There are 13 special votes yet to be processed for Maketu-Te Puke, and 22 for Ōmokoroa.

Laura and Chris will be sworn into their roles at the council’s next meeting on August 15.

A byelection was called for the Maketu-Te Puke seat after the sudden death of councillor Richard Crawford in March.

The Ōmokoroa Community Board seat became vacant after the resignation of Greig Neilson in April.