Auckland Council Election: Voting trend remains at an all-time low

Saturday, 28 September 2019

John Tamihere has announced his transport policy in his run for the Auckland mayoralty. (Video first published in August 2019)

Voting in the Auckland Council election remains at an all-time low after three days of completed papers being sent back in.

By the end of Friday only 4.61 per cent of papers had been returned, compared with 7.6 per cent at the same time in 2016.

The staggered delivery of voting papers to homes in Auckland over the past week could be having an effect, with many homes having received papers as late as on Wednesday, while the earliest had been delivered the previous Friday.

Auckland Council voting papers are being returned at the slowest-ever rate

However by Monday the trend should be more certain, as the second full week of the postal voting period begins.

* Can Auckland's voting turn out really fall further?

* Local body elections: Fewer than half of Aucklanders know who is running

* Online voting trial for 2019 elections scrapped**

Across 32 Auckland local board areas, or subdivisions of areas, the highest voting has been on Great Barrier Island with 6.5 per cent returning papers, and on the Hibiscus Coast on 6.4 per cent.

The slowest voting has been across the poorer south Auckland communities, with Mangere-Otahuhu on 3.6 per cent, Otara on 3.8 per cent, and Papatoetoe on 3.9 per cent. Kaipatiki on the North Shore was also on 3.8 per cent.

Auckland Council said all papers should now have been delivered to enrolled voters, and anyone who has not received papers should contact them on 0800 922 822.

Only 38.5 per cent of eligible Aucklanders voted in 2016.

While voting gets underway, mayoral candidate John Tamihere has suffered a small defeat, with a complaint over three social media posts by the mayor Phil Goff, rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Tamihere's transport policy adviser Will McKenzie had complained that Goff's criticism of his rival's transport policy, including a double-decker harbour bridge, had been misleading.

Goff had claimed the bridge would cost $10 billion, and was 'unfundable and unworkable and undeliverable'.

The mayor's submission argued that the comments were 'robust political debate' and not advertising.

The ASA board considered the posts to be advertising, but found them acceptable.

'In the context of robust debate during the local election campaign, the political advocacy advertisements were unlikely to mislead consumers,' said the ASA in its written decision.

McKenzie himself had devised the replacement harbour bridge concept over a number of years, before it was picked up by Tamihere's campaign.