Hawke's Bay local elections: 17,000 people sent letters telling them they have no vote

Insufficient candidate numbers means no vote at Rissington in the local elections ending on October 8, but Bronnie Farquharson does expect a turnout three days later for the redwood. Photo / NZME

Farmer Bronnie Farquharson won't be voting in the local body elections. She can't, and has a letter to say so.

That's the consequence for at least 17,000 people of about 124,000 on the electoral rolls in Hawke's Bay.

For people like Farquharson, there weren't enough nominations to force elections in their district councils and Hawke's Bay Regional Council wards, so those nominated, including mayors, have been elected unopposed.

In Hastings' Mohaka General Ward, which on Thursday had 4103 enrolled, and in most of the Heretaunga General Ward, which had a roll of 7624, there are no mayoral, council, local board or regional council votes. All those positions were elected unopposed.

It was the same case in Central Hawke's Bay's Aramoana-Ruahine Ward, which had 5297 registered - their mayor and four ward representatives were all re-elected unopposed.

Also impacted is the regional council's new Maui ki te Tonga Māori constituency, where there was also just one nomination for the single vacancy.

Farquharson, of Rissington, was one of thousands who opened her voting envelope only to realise that for the first time in her life she won't be voting in either a local or general election.

There are two elections every three years. Without any aspersions about a lady's age, a person reaching Gold Card status will have been through more than 30 elections.

Farquharson now has other plans for around the time the election ends on October 8 - the November 11 celebration of the carving that saved the community's 120-year-old redwood tree, at which, unlike the election, there will be quite some turnout. About 400, she reckons.

Another who got a similar letter was Hastings District Council Heretaunga General Ward councillor Alwyn Corban, who laments that having prepared the usual biographical notes and candidate aspirations for the district, he doesn't get to see them in Parongo me nga Korero Kaitono - the information and candidate profiles booklet distributed with voting papers.

The loss of a right to vote can hit hard, especially in rural areas where elections, with polling days at the local school or community hall, were among the biggest events of the year.

But the decline in the rural population means that in some cases the school or the community hall doesn't even exist to be used as a polling booth, were it required, which may be another factor in possibly declining interest in becoming the local councillor.

The complexity and workload of the job, especially if one also has a day job with an employer, could also be discouraging people from running.

The letter telling people there's no need to vote in their local body election. Photo / Supplied

Then there is the declining number of elected local authorities and statutory boards, such as the District Health Board, which has disappeared this year to become part of a Government department. Regional councils are essentially a merging of functions of the former Catchment, Harbour and, more historically, Pest Destruction Boards.

Once there were polling day votes for Roads Boards, Rabbit Boards, and many small towns had both a Borough Council and a County Council.

On the positive side is the performance of the incumbents, meaning that if one is doing it well it can be harder to get off the council than get on.

The Mohaka Ward has just one, in councillor and district deputy Mayor Tania Kerr, who was elected in a by-election in 2008 but has had to face an election only once since.

"I'm very happy with her," Farquharson says.

She recalls how her late husband Bryan would have to prod her to get her vote in as the excitement of polling day drifted into the past, replaced by postal voting - itself threatened with extinction as communication by post declines.

"It's an important thing being able to vote. It's a bit weird to get that letter," Farquharson says.

She reflects on the nostalgia of the polling day, which is still used for general elections, the triennial vote for Members of Parliament and the Government, and what it meant, particularly to rural communities.

Tales of Mum and Dad getting all dressed up to go to vote, maybe with the daughter or son too after coming of age, back when the voting age was 21.

Usually, no one would know for sure how the others had voted, although the smirks or despair could be the giveaway signs as the radio, or wireless as it may have been called, gradually divulged results polling station by polling station after the booths had shut at 7pm.

Thus she urges anyone entitled to vote, being aged 18 or over when voting closes at midday on October 8, to make sure they're enrolled as an elector - and to vote, if they can.

Enrolment can be done online, and polling booths are open throughout the country to take new enrolments and accept special votes: those which may need checks on the person's eligibility to enrol and vote before their choices are included in the final declaration of the result.

Meanwhile, voting return statistics according to day four returns figures posted on Thursday night highlight the impact of the lack of voting for some constituents in Hawke's Bay.

Chief electoral officer Warwick Lampp, whose company electionz.com manages most of the elections throughout the country on behalf of the councils, says turnout in the Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay districts would be impacted.

In Napier 1589 papers had been returned, which was 3.46 per cent of those on the roll. At the same stage of the 2019 election the return had been 4.58 per cent.

In Hastings there had been 1152 returns, the 1.98 per cent of the roll comparing with 3.9 per cent after four days in 2019.

Central Hawke's Bay had had 269 returns, at 2.52 percent, compared with 7.2 per cent three years ago, but there had been a good early turnout in Tararua, where there had been 920 returns, a 7.12 per cent result compared with 5.97 per cent by Day 4 in 2019.

* An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the date of the Rissington Redwood Commemoration. It is being held on Armistice Day, November 11.