Richmond votes crowned King

Tasman District mayor Tim King won the largest slice of the mayoral vote in three of the district’s five wards, including a definitive win in Richmond, voting statistics show.

King, pictured, donned the mayoral chains after winning 8034 votes across the district during the 2019 local body elections in October, beating three other candidates.

Motueka Community Board chairman Brent Maru was second with 5841 votes, followed by Moutere-Waimea ward councillor Dean McNamara (3417) and third-time mayoral candidate Maxwell Clark (2514)

King received 3377 votes in the Richmond ward, well above second-placed McNamara with 1024. Clark was third with 946 votes, followed by Maru with 739.

King also won the most mayoral votes (592) in the Lakes-Murchison ward over McNamara (221), Maru (186) and Clark (165).

The third ward King won, with 2494 votes, was Moutere-Waimea, for which he was a long-time councillor. McNamara, a first-time Moutere-Waimea councillor in the 2016-19 term, and re-elected to the role in October, received the third-highest number of mayoral votes there with 922. He was nudged out of second place by

Maru, who received 1249 votes. Clark was fourth with 647.

Maru comfortably won the most mayoral nods in his home patch, the Motueka ward, with 2912, over King (1057), McNamara (402) and Clark (388).

In the Golden Bay ward, it was McNamara who won the most votes for mayor with 848, over Maru (755), King (514) and Clark (368).

Golden Bay voters had the highest turnout at 63.55 per cent, up from 58.24 per cent in 2016. The lowest turnout was in LakesMurchison, at 44.04 per cent, up from 43.92 per cent in 2016. It was the only ward for which the council candidate – incumbent Stuart Bryant – was elected unopposed. Voter turnout was 51.67 per cent for all of Tasman District, up from 49.36 per cent in 2016. The national turnout at the preliminary count was 41.4 per cent, down from 42 per cent in 2016.

The number of special votes issued in Tasman District was 498, well up on the total of 149 issued in 2016. A council staff report says this is attributed to a range of factors, including a joint campaign with the Nelson City Council and the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board, and a joint effort between the Electoral Commission and council electoral staff encouraging people to enrol and vote at Richmond Mall and the Motueka Sunday Market.