Mary Anne Gill
The almost indecent haste Waipā District councillors decided to continue with First Past the Post for the next two local body elections, given the woeful 39.65 per cent turnout at last year’s election, came as a surprise.
No doubt they were influenced by neighbours Hamilton City Council – which has the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system – with its 29.4 per cent turnout.
STV is straight forward once you realise it is not compulsory to rank all the candidates – just vote for your favourite – but First Past the Post also has obvious benefits. When the polls close, a result is not far away unlike the ponderous STV.
Lou Brown
Out of 78 councils in New Zealand, only 15 councils used STV voting for last year’s elections.
All up the agenda item took just a whisker over two minutes.
Lou Brown moved the motion to stick with First Past the Post and made supporting comments, which are impossible to hear on the council’s livestream as his microphone was not on. But The News was there, and he cited economic reasons for the decision to stick with the system.
Councillor Mike Montgomerie (or Monty as he is now called in the debating chamber) seconded and so it was passed with no dissension or other commentary.
Mike Montgomerie
“Reasonably painless Jo,” mayor Susan O’Regan observed to Governance manager Jo Gread.
The News asked the council whether the agenda item had been “workshopped” previously giving councillors an opportunity to discuss it outside of a “formal” setting.
But no, that was it. Two minutes’ discussion coming a week after an election turnout of 13.11 per cent in the Waipā Māori ward by-election.
To be fair to O’Regan, earlier in the meeting she had commented on the recently released report into the future of local government which among other things raised ideas on ways to lift voter turnout including giving 16-year-olds the vote.
Susan O’Regan
She hoped the document would “encourage further conversation” but that it was a good start.
There were “thumbs up” for some parts, lukewarm for others, she said.
The News has been told holding a discussion about the system used for voting is not the appropriate place to start a discussion on Waipā’s woeful voter turnout.
So, when is? We want to be there.
