Palmerston North City Council promoting local election voting with sausage sizzles

City council staff Matt Chard and Liana Mua busy cooking sausages and encouraging UCOL Te Pukenga students and staff to vote last Friday. Photo / Judith Lacy

Sausage sizzles are usually associated with fundraisers but all council staff want in return for snags, onions, bread and tomato sauce is for people to vote.

Communications adviser Liana Mua and marketing adviser Matt Chard gave away about 110 sausages at UCOL Te Pūkenga last Friday lunchtime. They were spreading the enrol and vote message and had a voting box with them.

Mua says a number of students said they had forgotten to update their enrolment details so their papers would have gone to their old flat.

"Plenty had said that they'd filled in their papers and had handed them in already. Also, a fair few people were asking why voting is still conducted through the post and were surprised/frustrated that there wasn't an online voting option already."

Massey University geography student Willoughby brought along his completed voting paper and got a sausage. He said voting what was citizens are supposed to do and he would have voted regardless of the sustenance.

Willoughby said he had no trouble finding information about the candidates as he read the booklet that came with his papers.

Voting closes at 12pm this Saturday. If you haven't received your voting papers, lost or damaged them, or didn't enrol, you cast a special vote at the council's Customer Service Centre. It is open 9am–4pm weekdays plus it will be open this Saturday 8am–12pm.

"Local elections only happen once every three years, so don't miss out and don't let someone else decide for you. This is your chance to have your say on what you and your whānau want for Palmerston North," Mua says.

"Whether it's to do with car parking, recycling, playgrounds, the roads, or even housing, you need to vote for candidates who share interests with you and who will ensure that your voice makes it to the big decision-making table."

Pop-up sausage sizzles and voting boxes continue this week. On Thursday, the team will be at Pak'nSave 11am–1pm and on Friday outside the Customer Service Centre 11.30am–1.30pm.

As at Tuesday 2pm, just 21.1 per cent of voters on the general and Māori rolls had cast a vote in the Palmerston North City Council election.

There are 55,363 electors on Te Hirawanui general roll with 12,275 already voted.

There are 4705 electors on Te Pūao Māori roll with 400 already voted.

This is a Public Interest Journalism funded role through NZ On Air