"Voter surveys indicate people don't vote because they can't be bothered, don't think their vote has any value and don't know the candidates."
"Sorry, residents have duties and voting is one of them, preferably with careful consideration. If you don't like any of the candidates, still vote, but just scrawl 'no confidence'. That is still voting."
Only 35.4 per cent of East Ward electors voted in the 2016 full council election, a decline of three per cent from 2013.
Out of the 51632 electors in the East Ward in 2016, only 18284 actually voted. This year there are 55,369 registered electors in the ward.
With 15 candidates running in the by-election votes could be hard to come by if turnout is low and Ms Evans people should make a greater effort.
One candidate, Ryan Hamilton, who also ran in 2016, said that people don't understand the role of council.
"I reckon people don't truly understand how it affects them. They often see a bunch of random people they have no connection to which further exacerbated the problem and often just overwhelms them, so they remain disillusioned and disinterested and that is reflected in low voter turnout," Mr Hamilton said.
A low voter turnout could be be down to residents being unaware that elections are even on.
One East Ward ratepayer Hamilton News talked to, Rod De Lisle, said he would be voting, but did not know there was an election until he saw the billboards appearing and was surprised at the number of candidates running for the one seat.
"I did a little research — most are unknown to me as is the case with most local body elections," Mr de Lisle said.
"A tasty bit of controversy or human interest also gives colour.
"Alas Hamilton elections tend to be rather grey."
"A couple of candidates engaged in fisticuffs or a minor celebrity standing might enliven things, otherwise its hard to see this changing anytime soon."
When it comes to voting Mr de Lisle says the first thing he looked at was who doesn't live in the East Ward.
"They were scrubbed on the grounds that it is nice to have a councillor you might run into at the local dairy to complain about rates to."
"In the end it may come down to a dart tossed at the list."
Younger residents also seem to be unaware of the by-election. Waikato University student and Rototuna resident David Walker, 20, did not know about it.
"No, I will not be voting. I have no idea who the candidates are or what they intend to do once they get in. If I was to vote I'd be voting blind," Mr Walker said.
"If voting was a fairly simple process I would probably vote online."
The youngest candidate Matthew Small, 23, said it is perfect time for online voting to be implemented.
"We are now in 2018 and the by-election would have been the perfect time to trial it before 2019," Mr Small said.
Voting packs are due to be delivered to homes in the East Ward on January 26 and voting will run until February 17.
An official declaration of the result will be made on February 22.
The successful candidate assumes office the day after the official result has been declared by public notice.
However, he or she cannot act as an elected member of the council until they have sworn the oath of office.
The new councillor will be set to earn the current base salary for a councillor, which is $71,638 per annum.
