This year's candidates needed to file their nomination documents by noon on August 12 - next Friday.
But officials said they ran the risk of missing out if they filed paperwork at the last minute and there turned out to be a problem with it.
WDC governance manager Jason Marris said it was "a risky thing" for candidates to play the waiting game.
"I don't know why they leave it to be fair - just get it in," Mr Marris said. "We really want to encourage a board spectrum of our society to stand - and don't leave it until the last minute."
KDC governance services manager Sean Mahoney said despite the low turn out so far, he was "quietly optimistic" there would be a good pool by next Friday. The council had just held two well-attended candidate meetings, he said.
The election marked Kaipara district's return to elected leadership after four years under commissioners.
"There's a lot of noise around the election and people being interviewed in the local media saying they're going to [run]... So we think we'll get reasonable numbers coming forward," Mr Mahoney said.
Northland electoral officer Dale Ofsoske said the trend of coy candidates was echoed across the country this year. People sometimes strategised and opted for the "element of surprise", he said.
Others could be still making their minds up, working on their candidate statements, or checking out the competition, he said.
Mr Ofsoske was expecting a "flurry of activity next week", as per previous elections.
August 12 was also the final day people could enrol to vote in the September and October postal ballot, which would see Northlanders elect their district and regional councillors, as well as District Health Board members.
See elections.org.nz, free text your name and address to 3676, call 0800 367 656 or go to any PostShop if you have not received an election pack in the mail by now.
Prospective candidates should see the website of the relevant council.