Editorial: Internet voting may lift turnout

The recent Mount Maunganui/Papamoa by-election was a close race, with only 42 votes between winner Leanne Brown and runner-up Clare Wilson, but voter turnout was a mere 29.35 per cent.

While I'm sure Leanne is thrilled with her win regardless, is it really a democracy if only one-third of the population actually elects our representatives?

That figure isn't unusually low, either. Only 35 per cent of Tauranga's eligible population voted in the 2013 local body elections.

I didn't vote. I filled out the form, put it in the envelope and put it by my keys so I'd remember to drop it at the post office. But I didn't. I completely forgot until Tuesday afternoon. I realise this is a rubbish excuse, but I know if I'd been able to vote online, I definitely would have. How many others out there are in the same boat?

It's time we rethink our postal voting system.

We can pay our rates and insurance online, do our banking, register our vehicles and pay fines.

Almost every service imaginable is online. The introduction of ultrafast broadband has made the internet faster and more widely available than ever before.

We can even enrol to vote online, so why can't we actually vote as well?

Imagine logging into Facebook, you see a link - click, enter your name, a couple more clicks and, so long as you're enrolled to vote, you're done. Then you share the link to encourage your friends and family to vote as well. It would make voting as easy as paying your bills, which would surely mean more people would do it?

I can hear the naysayers already, "it would disadvantage the elderly or those without internet access". So just keep the postal voting option as well. Simple.

Though it must be said, if my nearly 71-year-old father can be more of a pro on Facebook than I am, maybe those naysayers aren't actually giving our elderly constituents the credit they deserve.

Another round of elections with just 30 per cent voter turnout means it's time to reassess the system.

There has to be a better way.