Voting turnouts are examined for local body elections around NZ
The make-up of councils all over New Zealand has been decided in the 2022 local elections.
In the final count for the Taupō District, fewer than half of eligible voters took the opportunity to cast their vote.
For the district as a whole, 12,537 of an eligible 27,217 voters had their say, a return of 46.06 per cent. This was down from 52.16 per cent in 2019, but above the national return of 40.44 per cent.
Of the individual wards, Taupō ward was the highest achiever with 51.19 per cent (9152 out of 17,879), closely followed by the TūrangiTongariro ward with 50.38 per cent (1253 out of 2487).
In the Taupō East Rural ward, 638 of an eligible 1728 (36.92 per cent) people returned their vote. Mangakino-Pouakani had a return of 477 out of 1349 (35.36 per cent).
While the Taupō East Rural and Mangakino-Pouakani ward candidates were both re-elected unopposed, voters in those wards were still able to vote for mayor.
The new Te Papamārearea Māori ward had a return of 1017 out of 3774 eligible voters (26.95 per cent).
Nationwide, the top three councils in terms of voter turnout were Kaikoura District Council (62.02 per cent), Carterton District Council (59.06 per cent) and Westland District Council (58.75 per cent).
The bottom three were Hamilton
City Council (29.4 per cent), Waikato District Council (32.3 per cent) and Hastings District Council (32.95 per cent).
Taupō District Council electoral officer Warwick Lampp says, nationally, voter turnout was not as bad as has been reported.
“We processed more votes this time and for our councils, many were up, including Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. We had a later last-minute return than usual, helped by the orange ballot bins.
“It is important for electors to have their say on who their leaders are for the next three years, as they will make big decisions on the future of the district. Things that can help turnout in the future could include a longer voting period given the slowdown in the postal network, online voting, and more ballot bins.”
For more information on the election, including the full results, go to www.taupo.govt.nz/vote22.