New website slow starter

Photo / NZ Herald

Almost half the candidates for the new Auckland Council have listed their top five issues for the election on a new website aiming to become a one-stop shop for confused voters.

The website, elections2010.co.nz, has been set up by Local Government NZ to try to overcome the information void facing council voters nationally. Local Government Online manager Cassandra Crowley said the initiative was "a global first".

But it has struggled to get buy-in from candidates and by 3pm yesterday only 46 of the 104 candidates for the Auckland Council had listed their top five issues.

The website has also posted the 150-word statements for all candidates from the booklets posted with ballot papers to voters this week.

"The John Banks and Len Browns of the world are always going to have their own websites and a Facebook campaign, but it's hard for those standing against them," Ms Crowley said.

The website allows voters to quiz all candidates, but by yesterday only one Auckland mayoral candidate, Hugh Chapman, had answered to one of two questions - about water fluoridation. No one had answered the other question about Whenuapai airfield.

Auckland Council electoral officer Dale Ofsoske said every voter should have received a leaflet about the new council with their enrolment packs early this year and a 16-page newspaper in August. Auckland Transition Agency governance manager Grant Taylor said his agency had spent $1.46 million on advertising the elections.

But political scientist Dr Graham Bush said the level of public knowledge about Super City candidates would inevitably be less than for the previous councils "simply because of the size of the electorates".