Tauranga local body election: A guide for last-minute voters

Tauranga residents have less than 24 hours to have a say in who runs the city for the next four years. As of Thursday, only about a quarter of eligible people had cast a vote — at this point in the past three elections the turnout was closer to a third. Here’s everything you need to know about last-minute voting and when results will come out.

Tauranga voters will choose who will be running their city for the first time in five years tomorrow.

Here’s everything you need know ahead of the polls closing at midday.

There are 75 people vying for 10 spots at the Tauranga City Council table.

This year’s election will be under a new governance model with a mayor and nine councillors to be elected.

There are 15 mayoral candidates and some are also standing in a ward.

Council candidates are standing in eight general wards and the Māori ward, Te Awanui.

It will be the first time Tauranga has had a Māori ward, which will cover the entire city. People enrolled to vote on the Māori electoral roll can vote in this ward.

Where to vote

Voting papers should have arrived in your mailbox. It is too late to vote by mail but completed voting papers can be dropped in the orange voting bins at 40 locations across Tauranga, including every supermarket in the city.

If you don’t have your voting papers you will need to cast a special vote at one of four council locations.

• He Puna Manawa Service Centre, 21 Devonport Rd: Friday 8.30am–5pm and Saturday 9.30am–noon.

• Mount Hub, 9 Prince Ave: Friday 9.30am–4pm and Saturday 9.30am–noon.

• Pāpāmoa Community Centre: Friday 9.30am–5pm and Saturday 9.30am–noon.

• Greerton Library: Friday 9.30am–5pm and Saturday 9.30am–noon.

If you haven’t yet enrolled to vote, you will need to enrol online or at one of the four council locations before 5pm Friday.

These voters can then cast a special vote in person at any of the four council voting locations.

Tauranga City Council chief executive Marty Grenfell encouraged everyone to vote.

“Tell your friends, your whānau and your community groups to choose who they think will best represent them and shape the city they want to see, and then get their votes in,” Grenfell said.

“Tauranga is electing its city leadership for the first time in nearly five years and it’s important that as many people as possible vote, so that our new council has a solid mandate from the electorate.”

How to vote using STV

The council uses the single transferrable vote (STV) system, which means voters rank their preferred candidates with a number, instead of putting a tick.

Your top candidate will get a 1 beside their name, then you rank each candidate in your preferred order.

You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you wish. If your first pick doesn’t get the numbers and is eliminated from the contest, then your vote goes to your second pick, and so on until one candidate has a majority of votes.

Results

After polls close at noon the progress results will be announced after 3pm Saturday.

Progress results don’t include the special votes or any voting papers received on Saturday morning, which means the results could change.

On Sunday afternoon the preliminary results will be announced, including all ordinary voting papers but not special votes.

The official result will be released on Thursday around 3pm. These results are final.

The new mayor and councillors will replace the four-person commission that has been in place since 2021.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.