Tauranga City Council election: Electoral Commission encourages voters to enrol

For the first time since 2019, Tauranga voters will elect their representatives on Tauranga Council. Photo / NZME

The Electoral Commission is encouraging Tauranga City Council voters to check they are enrolled for the council election on July 20.

The election will vote in the council’s first elected representatives since 2019 after the turbulent former council was discharged of its duties in 2020 and four href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/four-commissioners-appointed-to-lead-tauranga-city-council/G4EQTS2NXNNWZC26DFRN5S3C6E/?ref=readmore"> commissioners were appointed to replace it in 2021.

An extension to the commission’s term meant Tauranga did not take part in the 2022 triennial local body election. It will also skip the 2025 election, meaning the mayor and councillors elected in July would serve a four-year-term until 2028 – a New Zealand first.

Electoral Commission deputy chief executive operations Anusha Guler said in a statement today that more than 110,000 people were enrolled to vote.

This is 89 per cent of eligible voters in the Tauranga City Council area.

Voters will be electing councillors from eight general wards and one Māori ward, as well as a mayor.

“If you’re Māori, you can choose to be on the Māori electoral roll or general electoral roll for the city council election.

“Voters on the Māori roll will vote for a candidate in the new Māori ward, and voters on the general roll will vote for candidates in the general wards,” Guler said.

Following a recent law change, voters of Māori descent could change the roll they were on at any time except in the three months before a general election, the local elections, or a parliamentary byelection.

The commission would write to enrolled voters of Māori descent to tell them that if they would like to switch electoral rolls before the council election, they need to do it by midnight April 19.

• People can enrol, check or update their enrolment details at vote.nz or call 0800 36 76 56 for more information.