Reasons for not voting

Your article ( The real reasons people didn’t vote in local council elections, Nov 11) refers to an ‘‘ongoing trend of declining participation in local democracy’’.

A trend also noted in papers by Massey University’s Andy Asquith (2021 Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance) and by Victoria University’s Mike Reid (2016 Policy Quarterly).

But none of these studies went back far enough to see a general rise in participation through to the 1980s, with declining participation only since then.

This rise and fall correlates with the proportion of households that own their own home, which also peaked in the 1980s. That home-owning households are more likely to vote in local elections than renters has been well documented in local elections in several countries.

So while your article reported knowledge of candidates and their policies as the main reason for not voting, redressing this involves much more than fixing this information barrier, as the Horizon Poll suggested.

Local government has to make clear the huge impact it has on all residents’ lives and wellbeing. An impact far greater than many appreciate, far

greater than rates and infrastructure and quite likely even more than local government itself appreciates. Frank Cook, Mt Cook