Mr Smith went to the official vote.co.nz website, put his address in and it said he was still in the Hikurangi/Coastal Ward. Photo / Glenn Taylor
An unanswered email to council staff about boundary changes for Whangarei District Council elections saw a group of Kamo voters get the wrong information about what ward they were in - and then waste hours attending candidate meetings for people they could not vote for.
Kamo man Grant Smith says
the stuff up started several weeks ago when he and some of his neighbours off Three Mile Bush Rd realised that the ward they were in may have changed following a boundary review by the WDC.
So Mr Smith went to the official vote.co.nz website, put his address in and it said he was still in the Hikurangi/Coastal Ward. He and five or six neighbours then attended three meet the candidate events for Hikurangi/Coastal Ward candidates so they could make an informed decision.
"We went along to get a handle on who to vote for and felt we did a good job of getting informed on what the candidates were about.
"But when I got my voting papers on Monday they said I was now in Mangakahia/Maungatapere Ward and couldn't vote for a councillor anyway as our person (Sharon Morgan) had been elected unopposed," Mr Smith said.
