Get out to vote
The most important election ... since the last one
With just over a week left to vote in the local body elections, there are rightly some concerns about the low level of voter turnout. In Auckland, just 8.8% of voters have returned their papers; in Wellington it is under 5%. While Christchurch is doing the best of the main centres, a 10.9% return really isn’t anything to boast about. While I’ve had lots of people come up to me to say they’ve voted for me - which is great - I’ve also had many conversations with people, especially younger people, who simply don’t have any idea that there is an election on. It’s really hard to get people motivated to participate in something that they don’t know is happening.
That’s why it is really important to try and find a way to make people care about local elections. One example I’ve used with some of my younger colleagues is to talk about the buses. Did they know that ECan runs the buses? That they control the fares and the routes and the frequencies? That if they want better services, that they need to make their voices heard?
Of course, I wouldn’t be saying all this if I didn’t want people to vote for me. But while ECan is important, the race for the Christchurch mayoralty is far more important. Having seen Phil Mauger speak a couple of times during the campaign, and the seemingly random thoughts that he spurts out and calls policy, I think a Mauger-led council would be a very big step backwards for the city. His main rival, David Meates, is a far more compelling, reasonable, thoughtful leader, but he is behind in the polls. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t give up though. The flip side of low voter turnout means that most eligible voters haven’t cast their votes yet. Ill thought-out ideas, such as Mauger’s musing on turning Hagley Park into a carpark, show people just how shallow the pool of his ambitions is.
There are still ten days left in the campaign. It is not too late. Even if you aren’t on the electoral roll, you can still get on in and cast a special vote - the council has all the information here. Allow yourself half an hour and head to the council building in town, or one of the library / service centres, like Beckenham, Hornby, or Akaroa. If you know someone who will be voting for the first time, see if they need a hand - maybe they’ve never had to post a letter before, and don’t know where the nearest post box is!
It’s a bit of a cliche for people to say “this is the most important election of our lifetimes” every single election cycle. It isn’t. But the low level of voter engagement this year means that some under qualified, incompetent, or downright dangerous people could get elected because none of us were really paying attention. Let’s not let that happen.