At least 58 per cent of eligible Wanganui voters used their mandate in the local body elections, making this community one of the better performing in terms of voter turnout.
A total of 18,135 voting papers were returned - 58.52 per cent of the district's 30,987 eligible voters.
Three yearsago, the 18,717 votes cast represented slightly more than 60 per cent of the electorate but those returns were down on the 2007 election.
Matched against the national figure, Wanganui's turnout was not too bad.
Pundits reckon fewer than half of eligible New Zealanders bothered to vote, a return that could match the 2007 turnout, which was the country's lowest ever.
Local Government New Zealand chairman Lawrence Yule had earlier said it was time to toss out postal voting in favour of e-voting, in a bid to get the 18 to 25-year-olds to take part, historically the demographic least likely to vote.
