Editorial: How best to make your vote count in local council elections

NZ Post workers are handling the return of ballot papers in New Zealand's 2022 local government elections. Photo / Michael Cunningham

EDITORIAL

The three weeks we are given for postal voting in the local elections can seem like plenty of time to make a decision at our leisure. But time flies.

More than a week has passed already and if the envelope is still sitting unopened somewhere, it may be useful to be reminded we have only until Friday of next week.

If we care about local government, we have to vote. And we should care. Local government is responsible for many of the vital services we need for our houses, streets, neighbourhood and city or district.

When the turnout for local elections is declining as it has been, it becomes hard to argue with a trend in central government to override the functions of local councils.

This trend has been developing for a long time and it is gathering force in the present Government's centralisation of decision-making for workforce education, health services, housing density, urban planning and potentially water supplies, drainage and sewage disposal.

Opposition to the Government's proposed Three Waters reform is motivated in part by the fact that control of the services will be taken out of the hands of elected councils and entrusted to four big entities, each covering about a quarter of the country, operating at a double arms-length from councils that would nominally "own" the assets and their voters who have to pay the new entities' water bills.

Three Waters is an extension of the principle that was applied when Auckland's "super city" was set up with "council-controlled organisations" to run several services semi-independently. Decisions being made by one of those "CCOs" in particular, Auckland Transport, appear to be behind an appetite for change apparent in polls of voters' intentions in the mayoral election.

The candidate leading recent polls, Wayne Brown, has tapped into frustrations over road-use policies and ongoing disruptions, while his main rival, Efeso Collins, is proposing to reinstate two council seats on Auckland Transport's board.

But if Aucklanders are in a mood to reclaim direct control over decisions on road use and the like, they need to remember the mayor has just one vote on a council of 20. A mayor constantly at loggerheads with the majority of council members is not desirable. Voters need to look carefully at their ward candidates too.

That task is not made as simple as it could be if candidates had known party affiliations or if they aligned themselves with a mayoral candidate. But some offer sufficient information in the guide booklet accompanying the ballot paper for voters to assess their credentials.

It is worth noting the guidebook invites us to choose "up to" a stated number of seats for the council and our local board. We do not have to tick as many boxes as we could, and it can be wise not to do so. If there is one candidate you know and really want on the council or board, your vote for others could deny that one a seat.

But, most important, vote.