City council gives tick to e-voting

Palmerston North is going to have another go at convincing the Government to introduce online voting for council elections.

The city council on Monday decided to make a submission calling for online voting in 2019 despite mayor Grant Smith saying it would be a waste of time.

Smith said he and council staff had previously made submissions to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee about ways to increase voter turnout. ‘‘I have been there and seen it, that it falls on deaf ears.’’

Smith said the council should concentrate on what it could do locally to make a difference.

However, most councillors said they did not want to give up, and Smith said he would not lose sleep over their decision.

Cr Vaughan Dennison said after offering to be part of the online voting trial in 2016, which did not go ahead, it would be unfortunate if Palmerston North did not continue to support the change.

The Government pulled the plug on the trials amid concerns the security and integrity of the proposed e-voting system was not up to scratch.

Dennison said offering an online voting option would help to encourage voter turnout to improve on current figures, of just under 40 per cent in Palmerston North, and make it easier for young people to vote.

Cr Jim Jefferies said the council should also push to have all councils use the same voting system.

The city council and Midcentral District Health Board use the single transferable vote (STV) system, while Horizons Regional Council uses first past the post (FPP). He said it was confusing for voters to be confronted with both systems on a single voting paper.

The council decided not to make a comment about the ability of 5 per cent of voters to petition for a poll that could overturn a council’s decision on whether to have a Maori ward or wards.

Former New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd has asked for a law change to allow the establishment of Maori wards to be considered at the same time as councils decided whether to have geographical wards or elect councillors across the whole local authority area.

Palmerston North is consulting the public on its proposal to set up one or two Maori wards to guarantee the election of at least one Maori representative.