From
ELECTIONS NEW ZEALAND WEBSITE
Voting in the 2007 local council and
district health board elections closed at midday Saturday 13 October 2007.
If you didn't enrol in time for local
elections enrol here now.
What are local
elections?
The local elections happen every three
years, the next local elections will be held on Saturday 9 October 2010. People
vote to select members of councils and District Health Boards.
Regional councils are
responsible for natural resources, environmental planning and all regulations
administered at a regional level.
City councils and district councils provide local services such as water,
rubbish collection and disposal, sewage treatment, parks, reserves, street
lighting, roads and libraries. They process building and environmental consents
and administer other regulatory tasks.
Community boards focus on matters affecting your immediate community and
representing these to the full city or district council.
District health boards are responsible for the delivery of publicly funded
health and disability support services for an area. District health board
elections give communities the opportunity to elect seven of the 11 board
members for each of the 21 boards around the country.
How do I vote?
Local council and district health board
elections are done by postal voting. This means you will get and send your
voting papers back in the mail.
Council elections are run using either the:
- First
Past the Post (FPP) electoral system, where the candidate(s) who get the
most votes win the seat, and voters tick the name(s) of their preferred
candidate(s), or
- Single Transferable Vote
(STV) (External Link to dia.govt.nz),
where candidate(s) have to cross a vote threshold based on the number of
seats to be filled and the number of votes cast, and voters rank the list
of candidates with their vote transferring down this list until it helps a
candidate cross the threshold.
All district health board elections used
STV, while the following councils used STV in 2007: Chatham Islands
Council, Dunedin City Council, Kaipara District Council, Kapiti Coast District
Council, Marlborough District Council, Porirua City Council, Thames-Coromandel
District Council, Wellington City Council.
Care about your
community
The local elections are all about your local community and affect things like roading, rates, rubbish collection, health care, parks, events . . . .