The deadline for voting by post has passed. Photo / RNZ
The push to get all voter turnouts in Hawke’s Bay’s 2025 local body elections back above 40% is on, with daily return trends showing a significant bounce-back from the lows of recent years.
The possibility is most marked in the Hastings District, where by Tuesday, 27.8% of the provisional roll of 58,378 had voted, compared with 18.47% with four days to go in 2022.
The district’s eventual turnout three years ago was a low 32.95%, a dramatic dive from 43.63% in 2019.
It was attributed to there being no mayoral election in 2022, but this year, five people are seeking the role, following the announcement of the retirement of Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst.
Statistics from 2022 showed about half of all votes nationwide were received in the last week.
When the most recent figures for the twin cities were posted on Tuesday, 30.55% of the 46,278 on the roll in Napier had returned their papers, up on the comparative 2022 election figure of 23.55%.
Napier had a turnout of just over 50% in 2019, but Hastings has not had a vote over 50% in the last five local elections.
The return in Central Hawke’s Bay as of Tuesday, with 10,878 on the roll, was 39.2%, compared with 28.12 at the same stage in 2022.
Wairoa could again have one of the highest voting rates in the country, with 36% of papers returned by Monday, according to a council statement.
The council says it was 10% up compared with the last Monday before polling day in 2022, when the eventual turnout was 53.27%, one of the top 10 nationwide.
In the Tararua District, part of the Manawatū-Whanganui Horizons Regional Council area, the turnout up to Tuesday was 35.62%, compared with 32.52% at the same stage three years ago.
Retiring Napier City councillor Maxine Boag, who in 18 years of service strove to encourage people to vote, focusing on localities with traditionally low turnouts, believes Māori ward referendums being held in 37 territorial local authority areas and five regional council areas have driven up interest in voting.
While decided individually, they constitute the biggest referendum ever in association with local elections, as opposed to the parliamentary general elections.
Boag believes most people understand the importance of voting, as shown by the numbers that turn out in the parliamentary election, which is next held in 2026.
But there are disadvantages in local elections for younger people, who are likely to be less familiar with candidates, find it more “complicated” than the parliamentary general election, which is mainly a single tick at a polling booth in their neighbourhood, and who may miss out on receiving papers because they are “not at the same address as they were three years ago”.
Boag said “99%” of people aged over 65 vote in local elections because of their long-standing relationship with voting and issues, and being less transient.
She is still unsure whether New Zealand should continue with the current voting systems for local elections or revert to a polling-day vote, but would welcome online voting as an option if security could be guaranteed.
Of the five council areas from Wairoa to Tararua, only Wairoa does not have a referendum on Māori wards, having in 2019 had a referendum which set the scene for the district’s current council of three members from a General Ward and three from the Māori Ward.
The deadline for voting by post has passed.
Voting closes at midday on Saturday and papers must now be placed in orange vote boxes at numerous sites, including council offices, libraries, community centres, supermarkets and service stations.
Doug Laing has been a journalist for more than 50 years, and has covered most aspects of news, including numerous local elections.