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Resolution number OR/2017/57
MOVED
by Chairman C Davis, seconded by Member C Claridge:
That the Ōrākei Local Board
agree its comments to be reported back to the Governing Body for inclusion in
the Auckland Council’s submission to the Justice and Electoral Select
Committee’s “Inquiry into the 2016 local authority
elections” as follows:
i.
Matai titles
The Board does
not support the use of Matai titles on voting papers. The Board considers
these are titles and not ordinary names and therefore the same principle of
not having any titles on voting papers should apply.
ii.
Vacancies occurring within six months
of an election
The Board
supports a law change to allow a local authority using the first past the
post electoral system to appoint the highest polling unsuccessful candidate
to a vacancy occurring within six months of an election.
iii.
Legal requirement for candidate to
state whether residing in area
The Board agrees
that candidates should state whether or not they reside within the area for
which they are standing as this is one of the criteria that electors use when
electing candidates.
iv.
Timing of school holidays
The Board agrees
in principle of moving the election day so that it does not coincide with
school or public holidays and would support moving election day to the first
Saturday in October which would provide one week before election day that
would not overlap with school holidays.
v.
Electronic transmission of voting
documents to and from voters overseas
The Board agrees
with sending blank voting documents electronically but is opposed to the
return of completed votes electronically.
vi.
Electoral Officer to have access to the
supplementary roll
The Board supports this proposal.
vii.
Access to data associated with
electoral roll
The Board supports
in principle accessibility to statistical data associated with the electoral
roll, such as age groups of electors, as this would be helpful when planning
election awareness campaigns. However this needs to managed carefully
to ensure data is not manipulated.
viii.
Electronic nominations and candidate
profile statements
The Board supports
this proposal. In the Auckland Council’s 2016 election mistakes
were made.
ix.
Legislative confirmation that local
authorities may promote elections
The Board supports
this proposal but states that the role of the electoral officer should be
very clearly defined to ensure that the electoral officer’s role does
not include promoting elections.
x.
Time period for printing electoral
rolls
The Board supports
this proposal.
xi.
Electronic access to electoral rolls
for election staff
The Board supports
this proposal.
xii.
Close of voting time
The Board supports
this proposal and suggests that there be consistency with the closing time
for parliamentary elections.
xiii.
Discourage inappropriate use of
elections
The Board does not
support this proposal as it interferes with the democratic process even
though some candidates inappropriately use the election process for
self-promotion.
xiv.
Separation of DHB elections
The Board supports
all local elections being held at the same time provided the same voting
system is used. In recent elections the use of one local election
having a different voting system from the other elections has caused
confusion and consequentially a lower turnout.
xv.
Candidate information in different
languages
Given the range of
cultural identities in Auckland the Board supports this proposal as part of
the democratic process to ensure greater voter participation.
xvi.
Consistency between Electoral
Regulations and Local Electoral Regulations
The Board supports
this proposal.
xvii.
Relationship with Electoral Commission
The Board supports
this proposal provided that the roles of the Electoral Commission and the
Council are clearly stated as well as the independency of the Electoral
Officer.
xviii.
Electoral system
The Board does not
support a change from First Past the Post to Single Transferable Vote for the
2019 elections.
xix.
Māori wards
The Board does not
support the establishment of Māori wards as the Governing Body and local
boards are elected to represent all citizens within their constituency.
xx.
Review of representation arrangements
The Board supports
Governing Body members being elected on a ward basis provided the ward
boundaries do not coincide with a local boards boundaries to avoid confusion
and to differentiate the statutory roles of Governing Body and local board
members; such boundaries, membership and names of the wards and areas would
be determined by the Local Government Commission following consultation and
hearings.
xxi.
Existing members who are also
candidates
The Board
considers that the present policies relating to existing members who are also
candidates are unnecessarily restricting the ability of board members
to uphold their local government duties and are unreasonable. Members are
elected for a full three year term and the staff and governing body policies
around presumed political neutrality in effect reduces the term by three
months. In an attempt to have a so called level playing field, the stringent
restrictions on elected members prevents them from fully carrying out their
statutory duties.
CARRIED
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