Editorial: Make sure you are on voting roll

Soon it will be time for the great Hawke's Bay local government amalgamation vote.

It's taken a while, but the wheels are turning rapidly towards the great Hawke's Bay local government amalgamation vote, to be decided in eight weeks' time.

This was highlighted yesterday by the passing of the deadline for people to have their names on the printed roll, which most, having been on the electoral rolls for some years, will not have had to worry about.

There are, however, thousands of others, including young people eligible to vote for the first time, people who have moved into the area and others who may not receive voting papers if the roll does not record the correct address.

Most important is that people do vote in the referendum, a postal vote starting on August 24, and now is the time to make sure they can. Check the roll and, if you're not there, register to have a special vote.

Given that most people seem to have a view, this is not a vote like a general election, where one option is simply not voting if candidates and parties don't seem to come up to scratch. And there won't be another vote in three years' time.

This vote sets the course of our city and district governance for a very long time, which is why we've taken a long time to get this far - 16 years since the 1999 Napier-Hastings merger-vote defeat, six since Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule publicly mooted a new proposal, and two-and-half years since private lobby group A Better Hawke's Bay set the wheels in motion with a proposal to the Local Government Commission.

At the time Mr Yule made his move in August 2009, a year after becoming president of Local Government New Zealand, it was foreseen it could be a major issue at the 2010 local body elections, and we could have been amalgamated to vote in a new council next year.

Two more years down the track, there's a will to see this issue resolved, possibly once and for all - preferably by everyone entitled to have a say.