Ballot boxes have been placed in council offices and libraries. Photo / George Novak
Ballot boxes have been placed in council offices and libraries. Photo / George Novak
A slower postal service and procrastinating voters have been blamed in part for a slow start to voting in the local government elections.
Electoral officers are advising people to vote early if they are mailing their ballots, with one bracing for a "mad rush" as the deadline approaches.
Voter returns- the count of how many voting papers have been received for processing - for Bay of Plenty councils have been tracking at around half of where they were at the same point in previous elections.
Voting opened on September 23.
Voter return data to September 30 showed only 3.5 per cent of Tauranga City Council's 94,873 electors had posted their ballot.
By the same point in 2016 it was 8 per cent, and 11 per cent in 2013.
Returns from Rotorua Lakes Council's 46,970 voters were sitting at 4.8 per cent, less than half of 2016's 11.2 per cent.
The trend was similar for Taupō District Council and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
Western Bay electoral officer Dale Ofsoske said New Zealand post delivering on alternate days meant some people would likely have received papers later than in previous years.
"I got mine on Wednesday where three years ago I got it on the Saturday."
He said the other factor was a trend he first noticed in 2016 of voters "leaving things more to the last minute".
He expected a "mad rush" in the last week.
Warwick Lampp, the electoral officer for Tauranga, Rotorua and Taupō, said he had noticed the slow return trend in the elections he managed north of Taupō.
Electoral officer Warwick Lampp. Photo / File
He also believed changes in the postal system might be having an impact, especially where voting papers had to go via Auckland.
In Tauranga, a change to single-transferable vote this year might also be influencing the delay, Lampp said, with people taking more time with their candidate rankings.
Both electoral officers recommended people post their ballots by mid next week to reduce the risk of missing the arrival deadline.
Local Government New Zealand has urged people to send their votes even sooner - this Saturday, dubbed Vote Day.
Stuart Crosby, vice-president of Local Government New Zealand and a Bay of Plenty regional councillor, said he only received his voting papers on Monday, five days after deliveries were scheduled to be finished.
If others were also receiving their papers late, it would be "hardly surprising returns are a bit slow".
New Zealand Post has been approached for comment.
Local Government New Zealand vice president and Bay of Plenty regional counciillor Stuart Crosby. Photo / File
How to post your vote
- In a postbox or at a New Zealand post outlet - If voting by post, mail it by October 8 - Visit the ballot box at your local library or council office - If you haven't received a voting paper in the mail, pop into a council office or contact the local electoral officer - The deadline for voting papers to arrive at council offices is midday, October 12.
Liquor and voting
In spite of a slow start to voting returns, some are still hoping for an uptick in participation this year.
Voter turnout for local elections has been consistently lower than in national elections, and has been declining in some areas since the 1980s.
Electoral officer Warwick Lampp said the increase in election-related activities such as meet the candidate meetings in the Bay of Plenty this year was really encouraging.
"There has been much more talk and noise out there from what I have seen. I hope that will translate into more votes. I really encourage people to get out there and vote."
Another plus was the involvement of groups such as Tauranga's Youth Advisory Group, which is running a Brews to Outvote Boomers campaign.
Ahead of the campaign's Party/Vote event at Our Place on Friday from 5pm, University of Waikato political science lecturers Dr Olli Hellmann and Justin Phillips will host a free lecture about the history - illustrious and otherwise - of voting and alcohol.
University of Waikato political science lecturers Justin Phillips and Dr Olli Hellmann will host a free lecture on voting and booze. Photo / George Novak
Entitled Voting under the Influence: What happens when you mix alcohol and politics, the doors will open at 3.30pm with the lecture starting at 4pm.
The lecture will be held at the Tauranga CBD campus on Durham St in the lecture theatre on level 2.
