No, not at all for city, district and regional council elections.
Nothing formal. Elected members come from all walks of life and generally have will/desire to serve the community.
Horizons Regional Council has six (6) constituencies.
• Horowhenua–Kairanga
• Manawatu–Rangitikei
• Palmerston North
• Ruapehu
• Tararua
• Wanganui
A Councillor:
• Participates in strategic planning for the whole Region;
• Develops policy across a wide range of activities and services;
• Represents the Region at functions as required;
• Reviews and develops bylaws for the Region;
• Advocates on a wide range of issues;
• Coordinates and forms partnerships with other spheres of government and other agencies;
• Participates in the appointment and performance review of the Chief Executive; and
• Acts on all these matters within a legislative and regulatory framework, and setting a budget and rates.
You must be a New Zealand Citizen and your name must be on the Parliamentary Electoral Roll.
You will need to have two people who live in the area of the election you are standing for to nominate you – eg if you stand for the XYZ Constituency, they will need to reside within that Constituency. (Please note the candidate does not need to reside in the constituency in which they are standing).
The nominators must also be on the Parliamentary electoral roll at the address they are listed on the nomination paper (which must be in the area that they are nominating the person for).
You will need to pay a deposit of $200 GST inclusive.
Your nomination must be received by 12 noon on 20 August 2010.
If you pay the deposit by cheque and if it is dishonoured after nominations close, your nomination will not be accepted.
If you poll more than 25% of the final quota as determined by the last iteration (for STV) or greater than 25% of the lowest polling successful candidate (for FPP elections) you will receive your deposit back on receipt of the Electoral Expenses Form.
Would you like me to send out a nomination form?
Craig Grant
Electoral Officer | craig.grant@horizons.govt.nz | Tel. 06 9522 863 / 021 2277 083
Kay Booth
Deputy Electoral Officer | kay.booth@horizons.govt.nz | Tel. 9522 814
Election Day is Saturday 9 October and voting closes at midday on that day. The voting period starts on Friday 17 September.
The Electoral Officer has full responsibility for running the election.
No, but you must be on the Parliamentary Roll and be a New Zealand Citizen.
You cannot stand for both a constituent district or city council AND their regional council.
Eligibility depends on the particular circumstance.
Contact the Electoral Officer.
Eligibility depends on the particular circumstance.
Contact the Electoral Officer.
Public libraries, or at city and district council offices.
If you are on the Parliamentary roll at an address in the constituency you want to vote in then you will automatically appear on the roll that is used for these elections.
If you don’t know, see Q17 and Q21.
If you are not enrolled, you need to complete an enrolment form for this. You can either:
• pick one up at any New Zealand Post Shop
• Contact your city or district Electoral Officer
• you can enrol online at www.elections.org.nz
• ring 0800 36 76 56
• send your name and address to Freetext 3676
If you own a property in a district and it is not your main residence you may be able to enrol as a Ratepayer elector. Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
You should enrol where you spend the greater part of your time.
Not necessarily. If you are enrolling for the first time you can decide whether you want to go on the Maori roll or the General roll by signing the appropriate panel on the Parliamentary Elector Enrolment form.
However, if you have already made that choice you will have to wait until the next Maori Option period to change. That will be in 2012.
The Electoral Enrolment Centre will be undertaking a roll update campaign for the Parliamentary Electoral roll which forms the basis of our roll for the local authority election.
This will start on 5 July 2010 and if you did not receive a letter in the post the chances are you are not enrolled or your details are incorrect.
Yes, but you need to make sure you have enrolled which you can do provisionally from the age of 17 and it automatically changes when you turn 18.
You will also need to apply for a special vote. Please contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
Yes, subject to being eligible to become enrolled as a ratepayer elector and becoming enrolled. Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
All local authority elections will be conducted by postal vote. Voting documents will be delivered by NZ Post between Friday, 17 September and Wednesday, 22 September.
Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
No – Power of Attorney does not apply to voting for that person.
If they are overseas, you could fast post them to the person or destroy them if that is not practicable.
If they are for an elderly parent who is unable to vote please destroy them by ripping/cutting them up.
Write GNA (Gone No Address) on the envelope and put them back in the mail.
It is a legal requirement to scan the barcode number to mark the roll that you have voted so we can ensure that we do not receive two votes from the same person.
Envelopes containing a voting document cannot be opened until there is a JP present. The JP is required to sign off that the processes used by the Electoral Officer met the legal requirements.
The voter’s name is not on the voting document.
When the envelope is opened the only thing the Electoral Officer is looking for is that the vote for each election is valid.
• This means that for FPP they are making sure that the voter’s intention is clear and they have not ticked or marked more than the number of candidates that they are electing.
• For STV it is to make sure that no preference numbers are used more than once or omitted, eg, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, and that there is always a number one marked against a candidates name. It should be like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc, in numerical order up to as many preferences the voter wishes to vote for.
No you don’t have to vote. You also don’t have to vote for all candidates or for all elections. But your vote is important because the people elected will be responsible for making decisions about what happens in your community for the next three years.
To help you get to know about the candidates:
• Candidate meetings are usually held in each area if you wish to go and hear what policies the different candidates are advocating for.
• Additionally there is a candidate profile booklet that comes out with the voting documents in which there is a photo and a statement from candidates.
You can post them but make sure you have them in the mail by Wednesday, 6 October to make sure they get back to us in time (by 12 noon Saturday, 9 October)
However, you can also deliver it to the voting boxes at the city or district council until 12 noon Saturday, 9 October)
Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
If you can amend it so that your voting intention is clear then do so and initial the changes.
or
Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer so they can issue you with another voting document if you would rather.
Contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
Under FPP you can vote for as many candidates as you want but not more than the instruction states on the voting document. So if you are electing 5 councillors then you can vote for up to five candidates.
With STV you can vote for all or as many candidates as you wish but these must be in order of your preference
You can decide not to vote for one or more of the different elections on your voting document. This does not however invalidate all your other votes.
Is your council using random name order on the voting documents? If YES, then this could explain why the list looks different; otherwise contact your city or district council Electoral Officer.
No, your vote remains secret under the required roll scrutiny and counting procedures.
Under the Local Electoral Act 2001, you cannot interfere or influence any person as to how they can vote.
If authorised by a voter who is physically impaired, visually impaired or for whom English is a second language, a person can assist them to vote as directed by the voter.
They are delivered to the District Court and kept for 21 days so that the Court can access them should there be any application for recount or petition for inquiry.
After 21 days the court is responsible for destroying them
Yes, if you are a resident elector. Ratepayer electors cannot vote for DHB elections.
Please note that DHB elections are conducted under STV and so you will exercise your vote by ranking your preferred candidates.
STV stands for Single Transferable Vote. STV is a preferential system of voting where you can rank as few or as many candidates as you like. It is a single vote which can be transferred between candidates to ensure the vote contributes to the election or a least one candidate and is not wasted. If a popular candidate does not need all the votes he or she receives, a proportion is transferred to the voter’s next preference. On the other hand, if a candidate is not popular and receives few votes, those votes are transferred to a voter’s next preference.
For more information about STV go to www.stv.govt.nz
To exercise a STV vote, start by writing the number 1 in the box next to the candidate you most want to be elected. Write the number 2 next to your second most preferred candidate and so on 3, 4, 5 etc.
You can write as many preferences or as few as you like up to however many candidates are standing for that election.
You must write the number 1 for your vote to be counted.
Do not write the same number more than once, eg, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, and do not miss a number from your preferences, eg, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
This is the First Past the Post voting system. The candidate or candidates that gets the most votes wins.
You should mark those you want to vote for with a tick in the circle. Do not vote for more than the number of candidates shown in the instructions.
Progress and preliminary results will be announced as soon as possible after 12 noon on Saturday, 9 October.
The official results will be announced when special votes have been checked, but likely to be in the week of 18-22 October.
Candidates
Will be advised as soon as possible after Preliminary results are known. This may be by email or phone from the Electoral Officer or Deputy Electoral Officer.
The Voters
Preliminary Results will be released to the media and placed on our website as soon as possible after noon on Saturday, 9 October – www.horizons.govt.nz.
For all council election results, go to Local Government Online – www.elections2010.co.nz.
Contact Horizons’ Electoral Officer.
Elected members take up office the day after the official result has been declared. However, they cannot act until they have sworn the oath of office which is usually at the first meeting of council. This first meeting is usually held as soon as practicable after the final election results are known.
Ultimately the elected members’ final responsibility is to the local community. The Minister of Local Government and the Auditor–General do have a role in ensuring that councils follow the law.
This is set by the Remuneration Authority. Some expenses are also reimbursed.
The time commitment varies depending on the role and the size of the constituency you are representing.
Contact the city or district council Electoral Officer for that Council’s Signage Policy.
Constituency Number of members Estimated Population Expenditure
Horowhenua-Kairanga 2 39,900 $20,000
Manawatu-Rangitikei 2 35,100 $20,000
Palmerston North 4 80,300 $50,000
Ruapehu 1 13,850 $14,000
Tararua 1 17,700 $14,000
Wanganui 2 43,400 $30,000
12 230,250
All candidates are required to lodge an electoral expenses and donations return within 55 days after the results are officially notified. If this is not done it is possible that a non return will be advised to the NZ Police. This return needs to be made before a candidate deposit is refunded.