Whanganui voter turnout slightly higher than 2019 and well above national average

Voting papers arrived in Whanganui letterboxes between September 16 and September 21, and people had until October 4 to send them via mail. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Whanganui's voter turnout in this year's local elections was higher than last time out, but not by much.

Excluding special votes, there was a return was 46.42 per cent or 15,605 votes.

In the 2019 elections, 44.17 per cent of all eligible votes were returned.

Whanganui District Council's democracy services manager Kate Barnes said operating local elections was really challenging because it was primarily a postal vote.

"In 2022, that's a really difficult platform/channel to run an election on.

"The turnout is not super high across the country and I think it's always valuable to regularly review if the election is working well for the community to ensure as many people as possible can have a say."

Andrew Tripe claimed the Whanganui mayoralty with a final vote tally of 8393, over 2000 more than incumbent Hamish McDouall.

Helen Craig got the most votes in the race to the council, with 9169.

Of the 15,605 local votes, 5114 were made in person, Barnes said.

"That includes people coming directly into the council itself, which a lot like to do.

"On the final day (October 8) we got about 1150 votes in orange bins across Whanganui, with just over 800 in the front door of council."

Whanganui District Council democracy services manager Kate Barnes. Photo / Bevan Conley

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has called for an independent review of local elections after it was revealed national turnout was 36 per cent.

To make a real difference, a deliberate effort had to be made by councils and communities to better engage with each other in the decisions councils are making, LGNZ president Stuart Crosby said.

"LGNZ wants to work with central government to review how elections can be delivered more consistently and impactfully, including communication, engagement, the practicality of postal voting, and things like access to ballot boxes in more remote parts of the country."

In Ruapehu, the voter return was 48.92 per cent for 2022, almost exactly the same as three years earlier (48.87 per cent).

Voter return in Rangitīkei was 45.48 per cent or 5,005 votes.

It was 46.79 per cent in 2019.

Rangitīkei District Council's deputy electoral officer Carol Gordon said given the challenges of the past three years, she was pleased to see just under half of the eligible voters voted this year.

"However, the best result for us would be as close to 100 per cent voter turnout as possible.

"We hope to see a larger turnout in 2025, as a number of our big capital projects will come to fruition which will help our community to better understand what value council adds, and how they can influence change with their vote."

Any national changes that made voting easier for the community and increased voter turnout would be welcomed, Gordon said.

Regional election officer Warwick Lampp said in his view, turnout for councils like Whanganui hadn't been bad at all.

"I have no problems with a review though, I'm dead keen. It's a good idea.

"For me, the postal voting period is too short. The postal system these days isn't really fit for purpose for a big mail out like this."

Voting papers arrived in letterboxes between September 16 and September 21, and people had until October 4 to send them via mail.

Orange voting bins had been a fantastic resource this time around, Lampp said.

"When you do more of that next time, in supermarkets or transport hubs or service stations, that will help.

"Let's use Wellington as an example. There was a 5 per cent increase (in voting) and they had 55 bins around the community."

Warwick Lampp says the postal voting period for local elections should be longer. Photo / Bevan Conley

Barnes said a lot of factors influenced voter turnout.

"We put on a really strong campaign to get the message out there but things influence why people vote or don't vote.

"That could be the postal vote, people not being up to date with their enrolment, and the wider political issues and what is important to people."

There was talk about the option of online voting but that wasn't available to a lot of people in the community, Barnes said.

"Hopefully, there will be some real work to find a method of voting that is accessible to as many people as possible."

There was still a mix of different voting systems across the country, Lampp said.

"If it was me, I would have one system across the country and STV (single transferable vote) would be the way I would go.

"Different councils have different orders of names on the voting documents as well.

"It would be good if they were all consistent and fully random."

In South Taranaki, voting numbers dropped from 48.3 per cent in 2019 to 39 per cent in 2022.

The district's deputy electoral officer Becky Wolland said only the two new Māori Wards had electoral races.

"For our other four wards, we got the right number of people for those positions except for Te Hāwera where we are one person short.

"In 2019 we had a very strong mayoral race with three strong candidates and I think we had about 16 people stand for council."