A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
The 2019 local body elections for this district need your attention.
Those of you who read the election feature in last night’s Gisborne Herald will realise we have a lot of smart, well-qualified people with relevant experience and from all parts of our community vying for your vote to jointhe council and/or health board. The many outstanding issues of our region — especially regarding our socioeconomic and health status, community infrastructure and facilities, and race relations and prejudices — as well as the positive signs of change for the better, mean we need the best possible governance teams to take us forward.
If you haven’t done so yet, set aside last night’s election feature for further reading or to share with a friend or neighbour who might not have it. Many people vote soon after receiving their voting papers, which are in the mail now, and reading these articles helps to inform voting.
The feature is also being delivered to every home district-wide, but the soonest we could arrange this for is next weekend for the city, and the following few days for rural areas. Our hope is that this direct mailout will help prompt a whole lot of voting from households that otherwise wouldn’t have been having their say — in particular, lower socio-economic Maori households. They need to be represented well, as they have the greatest needs — and their advancement will disproportionately help lift us all in Te Tairawhiti.
In the past your editor has had a go at picking how the city ward election (for nine councillors) might turn out, and not been too far off. This year he can’t pick it because of the quality of new candidates, and uncertainty over how the community as a whole (that is, all those who play their part and vote) will recognise these qualities.
At the last election this district had a voter turnout of 48.5 percent — against 42 percent nationally, but mirroring the turnout across provincial (45.7 percent) and rural (49.8 percent) areas nationwide.
In 2010 our district had a voter turnout of 54.8 percent, then it dropped to 48.3 percent in 2013.
Let’s get back above half voting over the next three weeks, and challenge that 2010 turnout.
