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Resolution
number MR/2023/52
MOVED by Deputy Chairperson M Winiata, seconded by Member
H Andrew:
That
the Manurewa Local Board:
a) note the urgent decision on 6 April 2023
providing local board feedback on the
evaluation of the Auckland Council local elections 2022 as follows:
That the Manurewa Local Board:
a)
provide the following
feedback on the evaluation of the Auckland Council local elections 2022:
Improving
voter turnout
i)the board suggests the following ways to
increase voter turnout:
A)civics and citizenship education should be
compulsory as a part of the social studies curriculum in schools. This should
include components on local government, as well as central Government. This
could include running mock elections. Age-appropriate civics education should
be included in the primary curriculum.
B)the local government election voting process
should be simplified and made as similar as possible to central government
elections.
C)engagement with target communities to
increase participation needs to be ongoing, not undertaken only in the
lead-up to elections, as is often the case now.
D)working with community groups is an
important method of increasing community understanding of local government.
E)engagement programmes need to be funded
appropriately by central Government in order to be effective.
Management
of elections
ii)the board does not support the
ongoing provision of election services by private organisations. We prefer
giving responsibility for overseeing the administration of local body elections
to the Electoral Commission. They have a proven track record for competently
running elections and it makes sense to use this expertise for local
government elections.
This will also mean that the same
body will be responsible for enrolling voters and overseeing the election,
which will simplify matters for voters and allow for a ‘one-stop
shop’ approach, where voters can enrol and vote at the same time.
Postal voting
iii)the board feels that the postal
voting system is no longer effective for most voters, due to the increasing
unreliability of the postal system and the reduced number of post boxes in
most neighbourhoods. More options for in-person (booth) voting or locations
to drop off votes should be made available, in addition to postal voting. Ways
to make postal voting more secure should be explored if it is to be retained
as an option. Options to offer secure online voting should also be explored.
iv)making the voter experience in
local body elections as similar as possible to general elections would help to
reduce confusion and encourage greater turnout. Offering in-person voting and
having a strongly promoted voting period, including a final ‘election
day’ should be part of this.
Electoral system
v)the board does not support
adopting the Single Transferrable Vote (STV) voting method for Auckland
Council elections. STV complicates the voter experience and will not
encourage higher turnout. It requires voters to take more time to fill out
their ballots, and to have a high level of knowledge of the candidate in
order to be able to rank them.
That the Manurewa Local Board:
Improving voter turnout
i)
the board
suggests the following ways to increase voter turnout:
A)
civics and
citizenship education should be compulsory as a part of the social studies
curriculum in schools. This should include components on local government, as well as central Government. This could include running mock
elections. Age-appropriate civics education should be included in the
primary curriculum.
B)
the local
government election voting
process should be simplified and
made as similar as possible
to central government elections.
C)
engagement
with target communities to increase participation needs to be ongoing, not undertaken only in the lead-up to elections, as is often
the case now.
D)
working with
community groups is an important method of increasing community understanding of local government.
E)
engagement programmes need to be funded appropriately by central
Government in order to be effective.
Management of elections
ii)
the board
does not support the ongoing provision of election services by private
organisations. We prefer
giving responsibility for
overseeing the administration of local body
elections to the Electoral Commission. They have a proven track record for
competently running elections and it makes sense to use this expertise for
local government elections.
This will also mean that the same body will be
responsible for enrolling voters and overseeing the election, which
will simplify matters
for voters and allow
for a ‘one-stop
shop’ approach, where voters can enrol and vote at the same time.
Postal voting
iii)
the board
feels that the postal voting
system is no longer effective for most voters, due to the increasing unreliability of the postal system and
the reduced number of post boxes in most neighbourhoods. More options for
in-person (booth) voting or locations to drop off votes should be made available, in addition to
postal voting. Ways to make postal
voting more secure should be explored if it is to be retained as an option.
Options to offer secure online voting should also be explored.
iv)
making the
voter experience in local body elections as similar as possible to general
elections would help to reduce confusion and encourage greater turnout.
Offering in- person voting and
having a strongly promoted voting period, including a final
‘election day’ should be part of this.
Electoral system
v)
the board
does not support adopting the Single Transferrable Vote (STV) voting method
for Auckland Council elections. STV complicates the voter experience and will
not encourage higher turnout. It requires voters
to take more
time to fill
out their ballots, and to have a high level
of knowledge of the candidate in order to be able
to rank them.Improving voter turnout
CARRIEDImproving voter turnoutImproving voter
turnoutwould
help to reduce confusion and encourage greater turnout. Offering in-person
voting and having a strongly promoted voting period, including a final
‘election day’ should be part of this.
Electoral system
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