With voting closing at midday on Saturday, local councils are pulling out all the stops to engage voters. Video / NZ Herald
With only three days left to vote, fewer than half of residents in any town have voted. Kaikōura, along with other regional centres has the highest turnout in this year's local elections so far, as people in some of the country's biggest centres lag behind.
Voting closes at midday Saturday, and the daily voting returns show many councils are on track for a similar voter turnout to 2019, when the nationwide turnout was 42.2 per cent. This was a big drop on the 57 per cent figure in 2016.
Current numbers show the centres with the highest turnout are all in the South Island, are small and predominantly rural; whereas the lowest showings are in some of the biggest centres and are all in the North Island.
Kaikōura's turnout is already ahead of where it was in the last three local elections at 42 per cent. It's a three-way race for the mayoralty, with hopefuls Kevin Heays, Ted Howard and incumbent Craig Mackle bringing high voter numbers.
If this turnout keeps up, the total number of voters could surpass the 61 per cent of 2019. The same can be said about Waimate and Gore. At the current rate, about 50 per cent of residents may have voted by Saturday, voting returns show.
The Hutt City Council has the dubious record of one of the lowest voter turnouts so far. It is sitting on 17 per cent, not far behind neighbouring Upper Hutt City Council on 19.9 per cent.
Electoral Officer for Hutt City Council, Bruce Hodgins, said the numbers were disappointingly low. He could not explain the low turnout, or why it has decreased since the last three elections.
"We've done more election promotion this time than we've ever done, with lots of social media stuff going on, and flags around the city to remind voters, so I don't know whether the numbers indicate apathy or if people will turn out to vote at the last minute," Hodgins said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is concerned about the low level of voter turnout. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Public policy expert Travis McDonald said voter turnout lagging in the major centres compared with rural and lower population areas was in line with trends seen in local politics.
"In lower populations areas, there tends to be more direct connections between elected members, and greater visibility of the impact of local government among voters," McDonald said.
"In centres like Auckland, we have ward areas serving over 100,000 constituents, which strains the notion of 'local' government."
He said despite a "strong and engaging" public information campaign from Auckland Council, the "failure" to shift the dial on local election turnout suggested attention should be focused on other solutions.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expressed concern about the low voter turnout, saying it may be time to look at what will bring the greatest engagement from voters.
She said turnout had traditionally been low in local body elections until the "final period".
"It's hard to say where it will land, but I am worried because you would of course want to see it a bit higher than it is now," she said.
"I do think it's time for us to have to work with local government and say, from local government's perspective, 'What do you think will bring the greatest engagement with your voters?'" she said.
Out of the big four cities, Christchurch people are the most engaged voters at the local body elections, while Wellingtonians are the least interested.
In Auckland, where all eyes are on businessman Wayne Brown and Manukau councillor Efeso Collins to replace outgoing Mayor Phil Goff, the daily voting count has been jumping up and down.
Wellingtonians, believed to be the most politically tuned people in New Zealand, have been slow out of the blocks with just a 15.2 per cent vote for the leading mayoral contenders Tory Whanau, Paul Eagle and Andy Foster as of yesterday. This figure is an improvement on 13.6 per cent at the same time in 2019.
Voter returns show smaller centres have higher than our main cities so far. Photo / Andrew Warner
In Christchurch, where people are voting for a new mayor to replace Lianne Dalziel, almost a third of voters have got their ballots in, compared with 25 per cent three years ago.
Dunedin is tracking a similar path to 2019 with 27 per cent of votes cast and in Invercargill where Newstalk ZB radio host Marcus Lush is taking on the veteran Tim Shadbolt in a field of mayoral hopefuls, 34 per cent of votes are in, compared with 36 per cent at the same time in 2019.
Voting in the local body elections closes at midday on Saturday.
