Mahuta open to local Election centralisation
A big change to the way local elections are run could be in the pipeline, but not in time for next year’s local elections.
Local elections are run by councils, but there’s been a persistent push to transfer the authority for running local elections to the Electoral Commission, which runs elections for central government.
Local government minister Nanaia Mahuta said she was open to the idea, although it won’t happen in time for local elections next year.
She said she was waiting on the outcome of her review into local government as a whole, which was due to report back in 2023.
Mahuta said that the issue raised concerns over funding.
With councils currently running their own elections, the cost of those elections fell on the councils themselves. It was not yet established who would pay for local elections if they were conducted by the Electoral Commission. ‘‘It’s been a long-held view that if we can centralise the way in which local body elections are held that will be an overall improvement.
‘‘I want to consider fully what the implications of the centrally led local body elections look like, where the costs lie and the benefits,’’ Mahuta said.
Newsroom reported that Mahuta had even received a briefing on the way local elections were held, saying they were ‘‘outdated’’ and ‘‘flawed’’.
Elections don’t come cheap; the 2017 general election cost $47 million, and 2020’s election came in roughly double that amount, thanks to the one-off costs of the
referendums and Covid-19.
The issue is currently being litigated because the justice select committee is set to deliver its final report on the 2019 local body elections, and is likely to recommend the centralisation of those elections with the Electoral Commission.
The report is delayed in part because of issues on the justice committee, which faced a disruptive term in the 2017-2020 Parliament and in part because of the complexity of the local elections inquiry, which included detailed submissions on possible foreign interference.
The committee presented an interim report last parliamentary term, which recommended that the ‘‘Government consider giving responsibility for running all aspects of local elections to the Electoral Commission’’.
It’s not the first time the recommendation has been made. The justice committee’s report on the 2016 local elections also recommended they be centralised with the Electoral Commission.
National was ‘‘very supportive’’ of the move to centralise elections with the commission, Chris Luxon, the party’s local government spokesperson, said. ‘‘I think we’ve got an outstanding system with the Electoral Commission at a central government level.’’
He said centralising elections would ensure ‘‘consistency of process and a consistency of approach’’.
LGNZ has some reservations about centralisation, saying it would be a ‘‘huge task’’ for the commission.
Justice select committee member Nick Smith, of the National Party, said that a subcommittee consisting of members from the committee last term who have returned to the committee this term was currently completing the review of the 2019 election left over from last term. ‘‘Our hope would be to try and get the inquiry from the local elections by the middle of the year.’’