Napier and Hastings voters told to mail their votes in no later than Monday

Hundreds came out for the Napier mayoral debate, but voting numbers are down on previous years at present. Photo / File

Voters in Napier and Hastings council elections are being told their papers should be in the mail no later than Monday to guarantee being in the count when voting closes at midday on October 12.

Effectively advancing the closing date by five days, the Napier City Council and the Hastings District Council, which have a combined total of about 100,000 registered voters, have posted the warning on their websites.

Under a heading "Reminder: Key Dates" a rotating message board on each council's home page tells constituents that Monday, October 7 is the "last day to mail your voting paper".

Reinforcing the issue, the Napier council's Facebook page warns: "Mon 7 Oct. If you're mailing your papers back, this is the latest you'll want to post them back. Snail mail is pretty snaily these days."

By Wednesday night, 17.32 per cent of Napier voters on the roll had returned their papers, compared with 19.14 per cent at the same stage last election, 20.25 per cent in 2013 and 21.4 per cent in 2010. In the wider-spread Hastings District, the return of 15.74 per cent compared with 20.73 per cent at the same stage in 2016, 21.01 per cent in 2013 and 22.11 per cent in 2010.

In Central Hawke's Bay the 21.63 per cent return to date was dwarfed by the 32.42 per cent at the same stage in 2016, in Wairoa the 17.24 per cent compared with 30 per cent at the same stage of the 2016 vote, and the Tararua District Council return of 21.1 per cent was well down on the 2016 equivalent of 27.81 per cent.

For those not votingby post, councils have ballot boxes in their offices, customer service centres and some libraries.

In Napier, where the council's Civic building and public library buildings are closed, that includes the service centre in Hastings St, the library's temporary base at the MTG Building, and the Taradale library.

Hastings District Council votes can be placed in ballot boxes in normal voting hours at the council offices, the Havelock North and Flaxmere libraries but also at the Napier City Council Service Centre, Napier Public Library and Hawke's Bay Regional Council offices, in Waipukurau at Central Hawke's Bay District Council office and the Waipukurau Library and Service Centre.

The Hastings council also has a "roadshow" including ballot boxes in Waimarama Hall tomorrow,Hawke's Bay Hospital and the headquarters of Te Taiwhenua O Heretaunga on Monday, the Flaxmere and Camberley community centres next Wednesday, Kahuranaki Marae the following day, and next Friday at the Hastings Health Centre and Totara Health.

New Zealand Post said it does have processes specifically geared to movement of voting papers, from a "special stacker" to separate votes being returned to the electoral offices to a final-day "sweep" of mail centres' "every nook and cranny for any letter that may have slipped through the cracks".

"We have a tight turnaround target and we do our very best to meet this target. But the earlier that Kiwis get their votes into the mail, the better.

"We're working hard to process the voting papers in the most efficient way possible, working closely with all people in our network throughout the process – including everyone in our mail centres, transport teams, and delivery people."

Provisional results of mayoral, territorial and regional councils and health board elections are expected to be announced during the afternoon of October 12.