Preparation for this year’s local body elections under way

Decisions will be made in the coming weeks about the order of candidates’ names for the upcoming local body elections.

New Plymouth’s community boards will make their recommendations to the district council next week.

The 2019 election, on October 12, marks the first time NPDC has used the Single Transferable Voting system (STV), which allows voters to rank their preferred candidates by order of preference.

Candidates need to reach a quota of the votes to get elected.

The community boards will recommend whether to rank the candidates alphabetically by surname, in pseudo-random order (each voting document is identical, but candidates are not listed in alphabetical order); or random order with each voting document being different.

The report, prepared by governance lead Julie Straka, said NPDC had historically ranked candidates by their surname in alphabetical order.

Meanwhile, the Inglewood community board will decide whether to replace member Jenny Bunn, who resigned on February 26.

Due to the resignation coming within 12 months of an election, the board can choose not to elect a replacement.

The matter will be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting.

Election staff will start preparing the ratepayer rolls from Saturday, with nominations for candidates to open on July 19.