Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Confusion sees invalid votes cast

John Maslin, By
Whanganui Chronicle·
25 Sep, 2013 06:28 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

Different voting rules are already catching Wanganui voters out with a number of votes being declared invalid because they have been filled out incorrectly.

The problem has occurred with voting for the Whanganui District Health Board.

The WDHB uses the single transferable voting (STV) system which means electors must list their preferred candidates with a number rather than a tick.

But Wanganui electoral officer Noeline Moosman said yesterday that some papers had already been returned and voters had used a tick rather than a numeral for the DHB candidates.

A tick is used for the Wanganui mayoralty, district council and regional council elections. The councils use the first past the post (FPP) voting system with electors ticking the box beside the name of their preferences.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But Mrs Moosman said when voting for WDHB members, voters must number their preferred candidates in the order they want to see them elected.

She said with the STV system, if a voter gives a candidate a "1", then that voter is indicating that the candidate is their first choice.

Voting papers were posted out last week but already a number of papers for the DHB elections have been declared invalid. Mrs Moosman said under FPP voters tick only one preferred candidate out of three for the Wanganui mayoralty, 12 candidates out of a total of 36 for the Wanganui District Council election, and tick two candidates out of three for the regional council election.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The WDHB election appears in a light yellow box on the voting paper, and carries clear instructions above about how the STV system works.

She said it was obviously important for people to read the instructions carefully for all four elections, paying particular attention to the instructions for the WDHB voting paper.

To date, 2875 voting documents have been returned, which is 9.27 per cent of the eligible voters on the roll.

The STV process had earlier been highlighted as a trap by two current members of the district health board.

Allan Anderson and Ray Stevens had been asked by the board to prepare a paper on STV and it is expected to be tabled at the board meeting tomorrow.

In it they said an "alarming number" of voting papers ruled invalid in elections in 2007 and again in 2010. In 2007 1747 - nearly 7 per cent - of votes were disallowed because voters had incorrectly filled in the voting papers.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

'Just a precaution': Pātea residents told to boil water

17 Sep 04:14 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Police arrest three in Castlecliff operation

16 Sep 11:18 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'We need Māori voices influencing the decisions that affect our whenua'

16 Sep 11:00 PM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

'Just a precaution': Pātea residents told to boil water
Whanganui Chronicle

'Just a precaution': Pātea residents told to boil water

The current supply does not meet the new drinking water quality assurance rules.

17 Sep 04:14 AM
Police arrest three in Castlecliff operation
Whanganui Chronicle

Police arrest three in Castlecliff operation

16 Sep 11:18 PM
'We need Māori voices influencing the decisions that affect our whenua'
Whanganui Chronicle

'We need Māori voices influencing the decisions that affect our whenua'

16 Sep 11:00 PM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP