High Turnout From Marlborough Voters So Far

Friday, 3 October 2025, 6:24 pm
Article: Kira Carrington - Local Democracy Reporter

With nine days left to vote in the local body election, Marlborough is on track for a high voting turnout result. 

Nearly 26% of enrolled Marlborough voters had returned their ballots on October 1, compared to 18% on October 1, 2022, during the previous local election. 

That year, voting opened on September 19 and closed on October 8, whereas this year it opened on September 15 and would close on October 11. 

The voting data, from election management company Electionz.com, showed the proportion of votes cast in Marlborough so far was higher than Nelson, Wellington, and Christchurch, but was slightly behind Kaikōura which had 27.14% of votes returned on October 1. 

The uncontested Wairau-Awatere ward had the highest voting return rate so far, at 28.3% (2303 votes), followed by 28.1% in the Marlborough Sounds (1783 votes), 25.4% in the Blenheim ward (4708 votes) and 16.3% in the uncontested Māori ward (305). 

Marlborough District Council electoral officer Dean Heiford, who had overseen the region’s elections since 2001, said he suspected a few factors had led to the higher turnout, with issues such as water reforms, roads and disaster recovery top of mind for voters. 

“People are just more interested in local government at the moment,” he said. 

“It shows that people are connecting with their closest form of democracy, which is local government.

“We're the ones that have the most impact in their lives, day-to-day roading, water, sewerage, libraries, parks and reserves, all the things that people use naturally without even questioning sometimes, or even wondering who does it for them, but that's what local government does. 

“[What] keeps it interesting, keeps it exciting, often depends on what issues there are around and who's running for office.” 

This election was the first time that orange wheelie bins for ballot collection had been rolled out in supermarkets, the libraries and even at the airport, which Heiford said had proven popular. 

“I've had a lot of people comment that it's a really good idea, and that they've remembered to vote because they’ve seen them at the supermarket or hardware store. 

“If nothing else, it’s a visual reminder for people to vote. Because you know, a big orange bin with ‘remember to vote’ or ‘vote here’ means that people have it in their face, which is good. 

“Also, everyone goes to the supermarket, usually, so you can remember to put your voting documents in your bag and drop them off. That makes it a whole lot easier.” 

The voting papers were regularly collected from the bins and sent to Electionz.com’s facility in Christchurch where they were opened, scanned, and uploaded to a secure database, Heiford said.

When voting closed at noon on October 11, a progressive count of the votes already received would be released that afternoon, with some special votes and last-minute votes still to be counted. 

“Until those come through, no-one's declared unless they’ve got such a huge majority, there’s no way that they can be beaten.” 

Full preliminary results would be released on Sunday, October 12, and the final results announced about October 16. 

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

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