The DIA was also unable to halt the publication of election results.
Ward said local elections were run by local councils and delivered by electoral officers, following rules set out in the Local Electoral Act 2001.
“Any concerns about election processes should be referred to the electoral officer for that council,” he said.
“The Local Electoral Act requires electoral officers to report any written complaints of an alleged offence under that act to the Police. This is the proper procedure for complaints to be managed while an election is under way, before the official result is published.”
Ward said the act also provided a process for candidates or voters to demand an inquiry into the conduct of a candidate or any other person at the election.
“Petitions of inquiry” were handled by the District Court and could be lodged within 21 days of the final result.
Kaipara’s electoral officer Dale Ofsoske laid out the processes for complaining about an election during a chaotic emergency meeting called by Jepson in Mangawhai on October 16.
He also told the mayor and councillors the DIA had no jurisdiction over complaints.
When the then deputy mayor, now mayor-elect Jonathan Larsen asked if the DIA could order a delay in the election results, Ofsoske said only the courts could do that.
Ofsoske said he would release the final results on October 17 as scheduled, and he would be breaking the law if he failed to do so.
Larsen, however, remained unconvinced about the DIA’s lack of jurisdiction, saying the department’s own website stated it was responsible for legislation relating to elections.
The October 16 meeting was adjourned by Jepson after a protester, 76-year-old Kaiwaka man Peter Linnell, approached the council table and refused to sit down.
When the meeting reconvened the following morning, by which time Jepson had just 15 hours left as mayor, councillors voted behind closed doors to lodge the complaint with the DIA.
At that point Larsen, who had been endorsed by Jepson, was leading the mayoral race by just five votes, with special votes still to come.
Once the final result was published that evening, Larsen had increased his lead to 21 votes.
The final election result declaration shows 187 valid special voting documents were received by the Kaipara District Council.
Almost half of those, 86 votes, were cast in the Wairoa ward, which includes Dargaville.
Forty-five were cast in the Kaiwaka-Mangawhai ward and 56 in the Otamatea ward.
Kaipara’s election, like other elections around Northland and Auckland, was contracted to Auckland-based company Election Services, of which Ofsoske is the managing director.
Ofsoske told the emergency meeting he was comfortable with the way Kaipara’s election had been run.
“I’ve run elections for 40 years, this has been no different to any other election I’ve run,” he said.
Council chief executive Jason Marris said a number of “small issues” had been raised about the election process, which had been addressed.
One complaint, however, had been referred to Ofsoske, who had referred it to the police.
RNZ has not seen Jepson’s complaint – it was endorsed by councillors in the public-excluded part of the meeting – but some details emerged during the public part of Friday’s meeting.
They include allegations that some local electoral officers were related to candidates, concerns about the chosen locations of mobile voting places, and claims that voters were influenced at some of those voting places.
Jepson’s complaint relates to both Kaipara District Council and Northland Regional Council Māori constituency elections.
