Teen Candidate Frustrated As Pink Election Signs Stolen

Wednesday, 3 September 2025, 3:46 pm
Article: Torika Tokalau - Local Democracy Reporter

An 18-year-old Auckland local body candidate is pleading for the return of her bright pink election signs. 

Bianca O'Keefe, who is running as an independent for the Waitākere Local Board for the first time, said 10 of her 60 election signs had disappeared in the past two weeks. 

The signs cost her $4000 and she had planned to spend more on fliers, she said. 

"People don't realise this, but I’m working two jobs at the moment to support this, while studying pre-med. All the money that I'm making now is going towards my campaign.“ 

She said she was fine with people taking photos with her signs, but to remove them completely was annoying. 

“We have to look for them and put them up again.”

The first sign went missing from the end of Glengarry Rd and Glendale Rd in Glen Eden, at the start of her campaign. 

There have been several reports of election signs being vandalised around the region, mostly targeting women, Māori and Pasifika candidates. 

Albert-Eden Local Board candidate Emma McInnes, Waitematā Local Board chairperson Genevieve Sage, Auckland mayoral candidate Kerrin Leoni and Maungakiekie-Tāmaki councillor Josephine Bartley have been recent targets. 

Political group City Vision recently reported vandalism of signs to the police. 

O'Keefe said candidates put in their own time and money to campaign and it wasn't fair some members of the public showed their distaste quite openly.

"I just think it's a bit sad, these are people at the end of the day, an ordinary person who wants to make a change, and do something for the community, and people are being rude." 

O'Keefe decided to run for the local board two years ago after a visit to the Waitākere Local Board office made her realise there weren’t any young members around the table. 

"I just knew that when I turned 18, I would run and fill in that gap and be the voice for young people."

Since announcing her campaign, she said she's had mixed reactions from the public and online.

"People love that I'm 18 and I'm running - but there's been a lot of hate, questioning what party I'm aligned with and so on. 

People are quite shocked with what I'm trying to do. 

"It's my age and my gender maybe, that gets people talking. I'm just here to add another voice from the community to this election." 

Her father, Michael O'Keefe, who used social media to ask for the return of the signs, said the biggest worry was having his daughter’s image up in public.

"To see her original concerns validated, as a dad [it] just makes you shake your head and wonder what the world's coming too. 

"Rather than celebrating a dynamic young woman wanting to make a difference, actually stepping up, spending their own money in the attempt, people seem to want to bring her and others like her down." 

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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