Online voting trial back on city’s agenda
Online voting could be back on the table and one city councillor wants Hamilton to be the first to test it.
Waikato-Hauraki MP and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has put a recommendation forward to Government to update the Local Electoral Matters Bill.
The aim of the bill is to ‘‘provide greater flexibility to enable local electoral arrangements to adapt to changing circumstances’’.
The fundamental change is the ability for councils to participate in trials of online voting, Hamilton city councillor Angela O’Leary said.
If Hamilton is selected as one of the guinea pigs, residents could be voting virtually as soon as the 2019 local government election.
‘‘We have such low voter turnout. The number one thing people say is they don’t know who the [councillors] are and that council doesn’t listen anyway, and that hasn’t changed since the day I got on council,’’ O’Leary said.
‘‘That’s because we sit back; the organisation doesn’t take major steps forward to tell people just how important their vote is.’’
Hamilton City Council floated the idea of being a test subject for online voting back in 2016, but the majority of councillors gave it the thumbs down.
A factor behind the decision was security fears, O’Leary said.
‘‘I was very disappointed in that because it gave me a bit of de´ja` vu back to when I introduced webcams inside the chamber many years ago.
‘‘There were fears that the sky was going to fall but it didn’t. In fact, it’s such a great tool now for people to be able to watch what’s going on.’’
O’Leary said councillors’ attitudes today were leaning to the positive.
‘‘We’ve been talking about online voting since I’ve been on council, 11 years, and we’ve made no progression towards it. I hope this time the majority of councillors here see the value in being part of the trial.’’
However, O’Leary said, it wouldn’t be a cheap trial. Participating could cost anywhere between $600,000 to $1m.
‘‘Online voting would be more relevant to youth, however, in the research from around the world where they have had online voting, they have not had any increase at all.
‘‘There’s been no increased engagement in voter turnout,’’ she said. ‘‘Perhaps I’m being overly enthusiastic, but I think it would be different in Hamilton.’’