Work starts on council elections
Work is already under way for this year’s elections to choose a mayor and councillors for the Central Hawke’s Bay District.
Nominations in localbody elections throughout the country open on Friday, July 19, and close at noon on Friday, August 16. Postal voting papers will be delivered from September 20, with voting closing at noon on Saturday, October 12. Interim results are likely to be available that night, with official results declared the following week.
In Central Hawke’s Bay district, voters will choose a mayor, as well as eight councillors — four from the Aramoana-Ruahine ward and four from the Ruataniwha ward. Successful candidates will serve a three-year term.
The district council will hold a candidate information evening for those considering standing for election.
To stand you must be a New Zealand citizen over the age of 18, be enrolled on the parliamentary electoral roll, and have lived at your current address (at the time of nomination) for at least one month.
Council candidates do not need to live in the ward or district they are seeking to represent. People currently serving a prison sentence of three of more years cannot stand.
At a meeting last week, CHB District Council confirmed that for the first time, the order of candidate names in the 2019 voting documents will appear in random order. For the 2016 elections, each voting paper had been ordered by alphabetical order of candidates’ surnames.
At the same time as council elections are held, voters will also be asked to vote for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board.
■ Anyone interested in standing for council is encouraged to attend meetings over the coming months. The council’s meeting schedule is available on the council website www.chbdc.govt.nz.