Stuff Digital Edition

Low vote stores up problems

In theory, nothing could be easier. The voting papers are personally addressed and sent to your house. You have a couple of weeks to mull things over, using the information helpfully provided. They even throw in a stamped return envelope.

And yet local body election turnout remains stubbornly low. By Thursday evening, only 9.9% of eligible voters inWellington had returned their papers. Auckland was doing slightly better at 11.8%. But Christchurchwas streaking ahead with 19.7%. It means that, of the three big cities, only Christchurch’s tallywas ahead of votes received at the same stage in 2019.

It could be said that there is only aweek to go, but that would not be accurate. In fact, if you want your postal votes to be counted next Saturday, they need to be in the mail by Tuesday afternoon, although they can be handed in by Saturday in person.

Does that speed of the post point to the problem? Is the postal system too archaic for 21st-century living? If you heard some opinions this week, letters belong in museums of old technology alongside rotary phones and horse-drawn carriages. Yet somehow the people who claim it is impossible to find a post box manage to locate a closed primary school every three years.

NZ Post runs a post box locator feature on its website, although it is not foolproof asWellingtonians learned when the generalmanager ofmail ‘‘found’’ three Newtown post boxes that are not accessible all hours or simply don’t exist.

It has been reported that Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta may review how local body elections are run and whether the Electoral Commission needs to take over. It was suitably ironic that Mahuta was one of the thousandswho did not receive her voting papers in the post.

Low turnout is a familiar problem, revived like clockwork every three years. Stuff reported in 2019 that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wanted to see some online voting in local body elections in 2022 but technology experts had security concerns. Until such a system is 100% safe, it must be avoided. That only leaves in-person voting, perhaps on an official polling day, as with the general elections. Is that the solution? Or do we have to face the possibility that many potential voters either aren’t interested or are genuinely confused about what councils and community boards do?

It might also reflect the fact that New Zealand has one of the most centralised political systems in the developed world. Voters used to the established brands of political parties find it hard to evaluate local body groupings and the hordes of independents.

It is not like there is nothing to play for. Polls suggested that, in the three big cities, there are genuine contests. Two out of the three races are without incumbents, whichmakes them less predictable – even exciting.

Perhaps the higher volume of returns in Christchurch reflects a two-way battle that remains very hard to call. Yet Wellington and Auckland are also hosting colourful races.

There are some big decisions coming in local government which require our engagement. Three Waters is the most contested of them, but therewill also be issues such as housing density, climate change preparedness, public transport and cycleways, and expensive infrastructure that contradicts the sleepy image of local politicians preoccupiedwith rates, roads and rubbish.

It might even be said that, in some cases, away from the three big cities, we are seeing candidates without the calibre or experience to tackle such issues. In some places, voters have simply been given no choice at all.

Continuing apathy and low turnoutswon’t help to attract the kinds of politicians our local bodies need to grapple with their communities’ futures and even fight central government on occasion.

Is the postal system too archaic for 21stcentury living?

Opinion

en-nz

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282248079441691

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