Amalgamation debate: What happens after last vote?

Chief electoral officer Warwick Lampp hopes to have a progress report on the amalgamation ballot by late Tuesday afternoon.

With referendum voting set to wrap up next Tuesday, Warwick Lampp has shed some light on what will happen after the last ballot is cast.

The chief electoral officer said he was expecting to have a progress report by late Tuesday afternoon.

"The more votes we get into the progress result the better," he said.

"So we will hold it off as long as we can to get as many vote papers processed."

Mr Lampp said he was expecting quite a few votes to be cast on Monday and couriered down to Christchurch the next morning, where they were being counted.

"We will want to process those as quick as we can, which is why I will delay pretty much as late as I can on the Tuesday to have a decent result," he said.

"I want that progress result to be a 98 per center not a 95 per center."

In regards to the preliminary results, the electoral officer said they could only be released once electionz.com had received all of the ordinary voting papers that had been hand delivered to each council on the Tuesday morning.

"We won't get those probably until 5pm or 6pm on Tuesday as we have them couriered from each place to Christchurch, which means we won't process those votes until the Wednesday morning.

"So I am not expecting that we will have a preliminary result until the Wednesday afternoon and possibly the final result on the Thursday if not the Friday. In all reality if the margin's thousands then it is not going to matter, but if it is close then it will."

If people are posting their votes, tomorrow is the last day they can do this, so their ballot papers can make their way down to Christchurch to be counted.

Then from Friday people can hand deliver their votes at their local councils right through until 12pm, Tuesday September 15, including on Saturday and Sunday.

A spokesperson for Napier City Council said their ballot box was also available during office hours from 8am-5pm.

James Baty, electoral official for Wairoa District, said the council would be opening late this Thursday and Friday 8am to 6pm.

"There will also be a special polling booth set up at Write Price Supermarket at the corner of Paul St and Queen St in Wairoa from 12 noon-5pm on Friday," he said.

Hastings electoral official Richard Palmer said it made sense to have the polling booth open with people coming into town for the Blossom Parade.

Mr Palmer said the important thing was to have a say.

"Whether it is yes or no, be sure to have a say," he said.

Council weekend opening hours

Napier: Open Saturday and Sunday from 9am-1pm. The box will be located in the foyer of the main council building.

Wairoa: The Wairoa District Council will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 9am-1pm. The ballot box will be located in the main foyer.

Hastings: Open Saturday and Sunday from 9am-5pm. The box will be located at the Hastings District Council building on the ground floor - look for the sign posts.

CHB: The Waipawa council office will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 9am-1pm. The box will be located in the council building foyer.