25 January 2017

Tawa by-election – time to vote!

The Tawa Community Board has a vacancy for a member as a result of Jill Day being elected as a northern ward member of the Wellington City Council in last October’s local body elections.

Some 10,200 voting papers will be sent to all enrolled voters in Tawa between tomorrow (Thursday 26 January) and Tuesday 31 January.

The five candidates competing for the vacancy are: Damian Hewett, Liz Langham, Stacey Richardson, Craig Robertson and Anna Scott.

Wellington City Council Electoral Officer Warwick Lampp encourages Tawa residents to participate in the elections.

“Community board members represent and act as advocates for the interests of their local community. If you want to have a say on how Tawa shapes up in the next 3 years, then you should vote,” says Warwick.

Voters have until noon on Friday 17 February to return their papers. Voters need to return the completed voting papers in the Freepost return envelope provided – either by post, or to a ballot box. If you’re voting by post, the last day for posting your papers is Tuesday 14 February.

Ballot boxes will be in the Mervyn Kemp Tawa Library and at the Council offices from tomorrow.

Wellington City Council uses the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system for elections. Under STV, voters rank their preferred candidates by placing a ‘1’ in the box next to the candidate they most prefer, a ‘2’ beside the candidate they next prefer, and so on. You can rank as many or as few candidates as you like – you don’t have to rank them all. A detailed explanation of how STV works can be found on the stv.govt.nz website.

If you haven’t received voting papers by Wednesday 1 February, you will have to cast a special vote in the elections. Special votes can be made at Council offices starting tomorrow and until 12 noon 17 February.

To apply for a special vote, phone 04 499 4444 or call into the elections office at 101 Wakefield Street.

For more information about the elections, visit wellington.govt.nz/elections

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