District's voters part of online trial

ELECTRONIC ELECTIONS: Voting booths may become outdated if the online voting trial is successful.PHOTO/FILE

Wanganui District Council has been short listed to trial online voting.

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has announced the council is in the running to be among the first in the country to offer online voting, should the Government agree to a trial during the 2016 local authority elections.

Others are: Matamata Piako District Council, Palmerston North City Council, Porirua City Council, Rotorua Lakes Council, Selwyn District Council and Wellington City Council.

"This is an important project and a key initiative which will ultimately change the way many people vote in New Zealand," said Mr Yule.

He said, taken together, the population of the trial councils makes up about 10 per cent of New Zealand's total population. Mr Yule said the councils that have volunteered to take part have both sufficient diversity and complexity to test the effectiveness of online voting systems.

"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."