"In our view, the eight councils together meet the Cabinet's requirement that the trial is of sufficient scale and representativeness to produce evidence of the practicality and value of online voting in local elections across New Zealand. The councils will only be able to offer online voting if they meet the regulatory requirements set by Cabinet and if Cabinet agrees to a trial going ahead.
"All have given an assurance they are able to meet the Government's regulatory requirements within the proposed time-frame and many have told us they are already well on the way to meeting those requirements."
The trials will cover a range of election types depending on the council area, including single transferable vote (STV), community board, licensing trust and combined STV and first past the post (FPP) elections. Each council will pay for its own trial.
A spokeswoman for LGNZ said the costs of the trial "will vary considerably according to the size of each council and the agreements councils have negotiated with their online voting providers".
"The cost is also affected by the security standards that apply to online voting and we understand that these are not yet final. Councils that have expressed an interest will have considered the likely financial implications and measured this against expected interest in local elections that might be created."
