What are local elections?
The local elections happen every three years, the next local elections will be held between Friday 17 September and 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:
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.
For further information about councils and voting go to http://lgnz.co.nz/events/2010elections.html (External link to Local Government New Zealand)
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