Get voting now, says outgoing chairman

Grahame Hall will chair his last meeting for the Rotorua Energy Charity Trust tomorrow. PHOTO/FILE

A day before chairing his last meeting for the Rotorua Energy Charity Trust, Grahame Hall is urging locals to vote now to ensure the right people get on the trust.

Mr Hall, who has been a member of the trust for 21 years and has chaired it for the last 10 years, said the trust gave back $105 million to the community in the last 20 years - a big responsibility that required the right people.

Voting closed at noon this Saturday, meaning it was now too late to post the voting papers if you wanted to ensure your votes were counted, Mr Hall said.

He urged locals who had not yet voted to do so online or drop their forms at the trust's office at 1358 Eruera St.

The preliminary results will start to come through between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday with the official results released on Tuesday next week.

Voting packs have been delivered to 46,574 eligible electors who were asked to choose from the 44 nominees for the six available positions and vote in the referendum question on trustee terms.

As of yesterday afternoon 23.46 per cent of voters had returned their forms, which was ahead of the same period at the last election in 2010, when 22.5 per cent had returned forms.

In 2010, a total of 26.21 per cent of eligible voters voted.

"A lot of people take it for granted but we need the right people on that trust to make sure it is carried forward."

He said if people didn't vote wisely, the wrong people could be chosen.

"They have to have a really good knowledge of the community and financial understanding because it's not only about handling the money out but it's about earning the money too."