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Mobile Ballot Boxes To Roll Out In Ōpōtiki
Ōpōtiki District Council will be getting out and about with mobile ballot boxes helping people have their say during the upcoming local election.
As of Tuesday, voting in the 2025 local elections is officially underway and Ōpōtiki District Council’s Deputy Electoral Officer, Cindy Butt, reminded voters to keep an eye on their letterbox over the coming weeks.
“The first voting packs are showing up in letterboxes and they will keep arriving over the next couple of weeks. Don’t worry if you haven’t got yours yet, they won’t all the delivered at once and it might be on its way,” Ms Butt said.
“But if you haven’t got it by September 23, then you may need to do a special vote. There are a few more steps involved in that process.”
Anyone who hasn’t yet enrolled to vote, or enrolled after August 1 or whose voting pack is damaged or lost, will need to cast a special vote.
They can phone electoral services for a voting pack, ormake a special vote at the Ōpōtiki District Council offices, or at one of the council’s mobile ballot locations.
Ms Butt said it was exciting to see so many candidates standing across the General and Māori wards for all the council positions.
She encouraged people to find out more, get engaged and involved in the process of choosingthe next Ōpōtiki counciland Coast Community Board.
“Now that the voting papers are arriving, the next two steps are really important. First, people can get to know their candidates – there are candidate profile booklets in your voting packs, and you can check out details and watch the candidate videos for many candidates on the council website. While there is no Meet the Candidate event for Ōpōtiki District Council candidates, Radio 1XX is having an Ōpōtiki Mayoral Debate on-air on September 25 just after the 11am news.“
And then of course we want to see our community put that into action and vote.Nationally, voter turnout for council elections is very low but Ōpōtiki often bucks that trend.
It is clear that our local community cares and understands the importance of local decision making and we want to see that trend continue.
“Many people will just pop their completed voting papers back in the pre-paid envelope and put it in the nearest post box, and you need to do that before October7so it arrives on time.”
The district has NZ Post boxes in Ōpōtiki, at the Te Kaha General Store, Te Kaha, Omaio Beach Store, Omaio and Waihau Bay Store.
“After that, you will need to drop it into one of our secure voting boxes in the main council office, or Ōpōtiki isite,” Ms Butt said.
“We will also have a couple of mobile boxes out and about, particularly up to our Coast communities and we’ll have someone there to help with enrolments and special votes. Please bring formal ID if you are coming to do a special vote.”
Wednesday, September 17: Te Kaha, RSA, 10am to 12pm
Wednesday, September 17: Raukokore Kura, 1pm to 2pm
Friday, October 3: 10am to 12pm, Y2 Hub, 115 Church Street, Opotiki
Wednesday, October 8: Te Kaha, RSA, 10am to 12pm
Thursday, October 9: Raukokore Kura, 1pm to 2 pm
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Local Democracy Reporting
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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