Council elections are due again next October. My worries are the declining turnout, the outdated postal system and that the three-year term is too short. I am pleased to be chairing Local Government New Zealand’s Electoral Reform Group on potential changes.
I concur with both Abraham Lincoln’s definition of democracy as government “of the people, by the people and for the people” and Winston Churchill’s more caustic view that “democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others”. These liberal democratic values are being challenged globally. We need to work harder at championing its importance and improving how it works.
The declining turnout, from 57% in 1989 to 41% in 2022, for local elections is a threat to the mandate mayors and councils have to speak for their communities. Nelson’s turnout is better but has also declined from 66% in 1989 to 51% in 2022. This compares poorly to participation in the 2023 General Election, which was 78% nationally and 81% in Nelson.
The system of postal voting for council elections is not sustainable. Postal volumes have dropped 80% since 2000. A third of neighbourhood post boxes have gone and the frequency of mail deliveries is reducing. Many households and young people do not have or do not use their letterbox.
Online voting is promoted as the alternative but promises to trial it from both National and Labour governments and many councils have failed. The problem is cyber security, particularly with foreign players keen to discredit and disrupt democracy. The other option is to conduct local elections the same way as they are run for Parliament with polling booth voting over two weeks.
Any decision to change the term of councils, from three to four years, needs to be decided by public referendum. My problem with three-year terms is that most of the big issues facing councils over infrastructure, housing or climate change require longer-term thinking. This issue needs consideration alongside the proposed referendum on a four-year parliamentary term.
You can read the Electoral Reform Group’s Issues Paper here. We welcome public input on how we can make our local democracy work better.
