Auckland Council pushes for online voting trial

Friday, 25 May 2018

An online voting trial for the next year's local government elections has support from Auckland Council.

Mayor Phil Goff says it's inevitable that online voting is the future and if the council continues to rely only on the postal system it risks losing a generation of voters.

'We need to adapt to changing circumstances with how people participate in democracy, access information and communicate,' Goff said.

'There is strong support for online voting with 74 per cent of Aucklanders telling us after the 2016 election that they would prefer to vote online.'

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The council on Thursday approved making a submission to parliament's Local Electoral Matters Bill.

The council supports running an online voting trial among a small group voters in the 2019 local government election.

But it has a number of conditions it wants met.

'These conditions include enabling legislation being passed in time to allow an online voting system to be implemented for 2019, online security risks being managed appropriately, confirmation of an acceptable level of costs, and final Governing Body approval before any trial goes ahead,' Goff said.

'It won't solve all of the problems of low voter turnout at local elections but we should be looking to facilitate a 21st century way of voting that is more accessible for our growing and diverse communities.

'Online voting could work as effectively here as it does overseas but it is sensible to trial it first rather than jump in and do it across the board.'

Online voting approval requires making amendments to the Local Electoral Act 2001.

The Bill is currently before the Justice Select Committee.

If a trial is deemed feasible a formal proposal will be presented to the Auckland Council Governing Body for final approval.