Mayor explains support for STV voting system
IN today’s edition (ODT, 29.7.20), it states, in reference to Mayor Aaron Hawkins, ‘‘he did not want others to use the cost of running a poll — estimated to be $220,000 — as a reason against asking voters for their preference’’.
He then goes on to say, ‘‘You can’t put a price on democracy.’’
This is surely a contradiction in terms which I wish clarified. Does he want a democratic process or not?
I am interested also as to when the topic of voting for/against STV was added to the agenda.
Was it prompted by talk of the petition which is being circulated?
If so, I believe this was a ploy to subterfuge the petition which in itself would not be democratic of the council.
To my mind, this is not how a council should be run. It is there to uphold the wishes of the ratepayers and residents of the greater Dunedin area.
Jennifer Thomas
Mosgiel
[Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins replies:
‘‘I support STV because it delivers candidates with a majority of community support in single winner races (such as the mayoralty). Where more diverse candidates stand for council, this is the system that makes their election more likely. We should all want our elected bodies to better reflect the communities they represent, and a simpler method of counting the votes is a poor substitute for that.
‘‘Councils don’t have to choose the voting method every three years, but the DCC has done this as a matter of course. The fact that we did so again this year had nothing to do with any circulating petition.
‘‘My comment about the cost of any referendum was simply to say that as much as council doesn’t support a First Past the Post system, the cost of a referendum isn’t the best argument to use against people pushing for change.’’]