Aucklanders heed advice to vote early

Aucklanders are being reminded to vote early with just two weeks until election day and as many people leave town for school holidays.

Voting packs for the inaugural Auckland Council elections were delivered between 17 and 22 September and included the actual voting document, background information (profiles) about candidates for mayor, wards and local boards, as well as district health boards and licensing trusts where applicable. The voting packs also contain an orange, postage-paid envelope to send votes back in.

"If Aucklanders want their vote to count, they should put their voting documents in the orange return envelope and post it by Wednesday, 6 October 2010," says Auckland Council Electoral Officer Dale Ofsoske. "If they are going to out of town for the school holidays, which don't finish until October 11, they need to act now if they want to have their say on Auckland's future direction."

Voting packs should have been received by Wednesday, September 22. If they have not, Mr Ofsoske says voters should contact his office.

A week into the three-week voting period, 11.1% of voting documents have been returned compared with 9.4% at the same stage of the voting period during the last election in 2007. The highest voter turn out so far has been Great Barrier Island with a 23.5% turnout followed by Waiheke on 17.8%. The lowest so far is East Coast Bays on 7.6%.

In total, 545 nominations were received for 170 vacancies – 23 mayoral candidates, 102 council candidates and 420 local board candidates.

In the Auckland Council, there will be 20 councillors representing 13 wards, and 149 local board members representing 21 local board areas.

Information supplied by all candidates is available on the Auckland Council website, www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.

Progress and preliminary results will be announced as soon as possible after noon on Saturday 9 October.

The official results will be announced when special votes have been checked, in the week of 11-15 October

ENDS

© Scoop Media