A flurry of last-minute votes for Mayor and Councillors has pushed voter turnout in the New Plymouth District (NPD) to 44.3 %, way ahead of the national average of 36% and just 1% behind our 2019 result of 45.3%.

The return is ahead of similar sized councils, Palmerston North City Council with 33% and 31 % for Hasting District Council.

“The last few days of the election campaign were really busy, and we had queues at the pop-up drive-through on Saturday to get their votes in last minute,” says NPDC Marketing, Communication and Design Lead Ben Kohlis.

“We’re pleased we’re on track for a similar voter turnout to 2019 and are looking forward to a potential independent review by Local Government New Zealand looking to improve voter turnout across the country.”

By the numbers:

• 27,163 votes received to date compared with 26,018 at the same point in 2019.
• 7188 votes processed on Friday
• 61,278 the number of eligible voters.

Several hundred special votes still need to be counted and will be included in the final results, which are expected on Thursday, 13 October.

NPDC will also be conducting a public survey to obtain feedback on voter participation.

Preliminary results can be viewed on the NPDC website.

© Scoop Media