What will it take for people to vote?
Few people seem interested or even know there is a local government election on in their district. Reporters Mike Bain and Aaron Leaman look at what’s being done to encourage more people to vote.
On the streets of Te Aroha, they don’t really care.
A recent street survey asked how residents felt about the forthcoming local government election and what they viewed as the issues was met with a common theme.
‘‘I haven’t thought about it or I’m not really interested.’’ But why is it? Could it be they have no issues or generally don’t care?
Local Government New Zealand has actively campaigned this election to get people to stand for the council positions, and also encourage them to vote.
Obviously this is a failure in Te Aroha as the same three candidates and mayor from the past three years have been returned unopposed.
Is it really apathy or is it systematic of todays society?
Politicians will argue people are satisfied adopting the ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ thought.
Today, even in Te Aroha people are busy with their own lives and really just haven’t the time or the inclination for politics, school board of trustees, PTA, clubs or organisations anymore.
Democracy was a right that our forefathers were prepared to surrender their lives for, after hearing the attitudes on the streets of Te Aroha, one couldn’t but ponder their sacrifice on the battlefield was all for nothing.
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) launched a campaign to arrest plummeting voter turnout at local body elections and get more people standing for council offices.
Local body voter turnout has been on the slide since the 1980s.
Some councils experienced a double-digit percentage point drop in voter turnout at the 2013 election.
LGNZ advocacy director Helen Mexted said the organisation hadn’t yet analysed candidate figures to determine if there had been a drop in numbers nationwide.
The campaign to encourage more people to stand for local government was a long-term initiative.
‘‘The quantity of candidates is one measure, but quality may be up,’’ Mexted said.
‘‘What we do find is where people are very happy with the leadership of an incumbent council, you don’t get a lot of competition for those seats.’’
While candidate numbers were an indicator of the public’s engagement with local government, a more important indicator is voter turnout, she said.
In 2013, Matamata-Piako bucked the national trend of declining voter turnout and registered a 3 percentage point lift to 45 per cent.
Victoria University professor of political science Stephen Levine said a drop in the number of candidates standing for election isn’t cause for alarm in itself.
He was more interested in trends, rather than a single occurrence.
Without more data, it is unwise to make any generalisations, Levine said.
‘‘Democratic politics requires people to seek public office, that’s the whole idea of democracy: Not only do we vote to make choices about who should govern us, but people themselves are interested in taking up public service.
‘‘If people are not willing to put themselves forward for positions and see public service as reserved for a particular group of people, that would be a concern.’’
Former one-term regional councillor Phillip Legg enjoyed his stint on the council, but didn’t have fond memories of some of the personalities around the council table.
‘‘If people are not willing to put themselves forward for positions and see public service as reserved for a particular group of people, that would be a concern.’’
He now contributes to his Te Aroha community in other ways, including his St John work and involvement in the Te Aroha Dramatic Society.
‘‘After the regional council, I was lucky that the company I worked for took me back. But I did find things had changed during my three years away from accountancy. I certainly enjoyed my time on the council, and the work, I just didn’t enjoy the people. I’m happy to have robust debate, but the horribleness of it all just did my head in.’’