Residents Tackle Voter Education Themselves

Friday, 26 September 2025, 8:45 pm
Article: Max Frethey - Local Democracy Reporter

Residents around Tasman are taking it upon themselves to educate voters ahead of the local election. Benjamin Walch moved to the district after the last election and said he had had “no idea” who to vote for this time around. The 150-word profile statements in the candidate information booklets were “very minimal”, he said. “You can’t tell if it’s a conservative, if it’s a progressive; they managed to blur the lines in how they word it.” So, he and some other like-minded residents banded together to form Local Matters. 

The group surveyed Tasman’s mayoral and councillor candidates on five key questions about climate adaptation, urban and rural planning, supporting vulnerable residents, “large impact” projects, and the Māori ward referendum. “This is not about promoting particular ideas, it’s about the quality of local democracy and quality of voter information.” 

Out of the 25 people running for a seat on the council, 21 have supplied answers that can now be found on their website. Walch said that trying to extract answers as a brand-new group wasn’t easy, but the work seems to have paid off, with 60,000 Facebook page views, hundreds of website visits, and a “really good” response from residents. 

“It seems like there is really an appetite to compare,” he said. Their findings showed that candidates chose to either focus on reducing council spending or on finding new revenue, but not both, and revealed a 50/50 split between those who supported and opposed Māori wards (though five dodged the question). But there were commonalties, such as widespread opposition to the proposed Sams Creek gold mine, as well as support for protecting rural land and housing solutions for the vulnerable. “I think it’s really helped transparency,” Walch said, adding that the exercise has “absolutely” helped him decide who to vote for, and he hoped it will be useful for others as well. 

Fellow group members David Bartle and Anna Naygrow believed that Local Matters has scope after the election to provide a space independent of the council for experts to give feedback on various local topics. “When you go on Facebook, you see people asking all sorts of questions and accusations against the council,” Naygrow said. “We feel that’s something we could do a little more on, because we’re all affected, even if we don’t pay rates,” Bartle added. Elsewhere in Tasman, Ann Martin said that Māori were a partner under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but her children also possess Māori heritage, and so the Māori ward topic was close to her heart. “I want that whakapapa [geneaology] to be respected and acknowledged in the future. I don't want my mokopuna [descendants] to be fighting for equal participation in things.” 

She has been hosting public meetings across the district alongside other supporters of Māori wards, campaigning for their retention ahead of the referendum. However, she had noticed that there was a lot of confusion about what Māori wards entailed, with some people thinking they only enabled Māori to vote, or gave Māori an extra vote. “And there were people who believed that they were voting as to whether or not the Māori Wardens would be allowed to continue,” Martin said. So, the group has also been working to dispel misconceptions about the wards as part of their campaign. “We want people to go in to vote in the referendum with more understanding.” 

Much like a Māori electorate during general elections, Māori wards were the only wards that voters on the Māori roll could vote in but, like all voters, those on the Māori roll could also vote for mayor, or for at-large candidates – though Tasman didn't elect candidates at large. She added that the existence of a Māori ward won’t have any impact on residents on the general roll and could increase Māori participation in local government. “It just gives Māori who are on the Māori roll a position to vote for that represents them.” Her group will have a stall at the Motueka Sunday Market on 28 September, if residents wanted to discuss the subject further. 

Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air ENDS

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