Hamilton City Council candidates confirmed

Nominations for Hamilton City Council closed at noon yesterday with 41 candidates putting themselves up for election.

In the East ward, 20 candidates have put their name forward for six places. This compares to 25 candidates who stood in the East ward in 2016.

The 2019 East ward candidates are: Brad Hills, Margaret Forsyth, Jack Gielen, Peter Humphreys, Lisa Lewis, Rob Pascoe, Tim Young, Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, Anna Smart, James Casson, Tony Dixon, Ryan Hamilton, Krishna Reddy, Mark Bunting, Meleane Burgess, Andrew Bydder, Garry Mallett, Maxine van Oosten, Mike West and Andrea McLachlan.

In the west ward, 19 candidates are vying for six places around the Council table compared to 16 who sought seats in 2016.

The 2019 West ward candidates are: Matthew Small, Chris Davis, Shanti Ralm, Rudi du Plooy, Leo Tooman, Angela O'Leary, Sarah Thomson, Dave Macpherson, Geoff Taylor, Martin Gallagher, Siggi Henry, Michelle Houghton, Louise Hutt, David McNab, Ewan Wilson, Peter Bos, Geoff Holt, Melaina Huaki and Matt Shea.

Eight mayoral candidates have put their hat in the ring, compared to seven who stood in 2016. They are Jack Gielen, Lisa Lewis, Angela O'Leary, James Casson, Andrew King, Louise Hutt, Paula Southgate and Mike West.

Andrew King and Paula Southgate are only seeking the Hamilton mayoralty and are not contesting a ward seat.

Candidate profiles and answers to five questions outlined in the Council’s pre-election report will be online at yourcityelections.co.nz/candidates starting 22 August. The questions are:

• What’s your vision for Hamilton?
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• What do you think is key for managing our city’s growth?
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• What’s the one thing you’d do differently that would make Hamilton an even better place to live?
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• What’s the biggest technology opportunity Hamilton is missing and how can we make it happen?
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• How do you think we can get more people interested and engaged in Council?
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The website also includes details of election events around the city.

Voting packs will start arriving in the mail from 20 September. Voters are being urged to post their ballots by 5 October to guarantee they will arrive in time to be counted. There is no online voting.

Voting officially closes at midday on Saturday 12 October and voting papers can be hand-delivered to the Hamilton City Council office in Garden Place up until then. By law, voting papers received after midday cannot be counted.

Voters are being urged to take care when filling in their voting paper to ensure all instructions are followed. If not filled in correctly, the vote will not be counted.

Those not already enrolled to vote in local government elections can do so up to Friday 11 October.

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