In a bid to boost voter turnout ahead of local elections this year, Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has partnered with Policy.nz to ensure voters are properly informed about candidates standing in their region.

Policy.nz gathers essential information about candidates and their policies, sourced directly from the candidates themselves, so voters can make an informed vote at election time. First launched in 2017 for parliamentary elections, the platform was expanded in 2022 to cover local elections.

An understanding of candidates and their policies is one of several issues explored by LGNZ’s Electoral Reform Working Group (ERWG), with the group releasing a final position paper today that includes a set of recommendations to help lift voter turnout in future elections.

ERWG Chair, Nelson Mayor Nick Smith, says the group’s work has identified that a lack of information about candidates is a key reason why people do not vote.

“Voters need to be able to easily access information on who is standing for election, what they stand for, and what they hope to achieve if elected. LGNZ is partnering with Policy.nz as an interim measure to improve our local elections in 2025,” says Mayor Nick Smith.

“Neutral third parties, such as Policy.nz, have played an important role in supplying candidate information to voters. With the closure of 15 more community newspapers at the end of this month, the importance of this platform is now even more evident.

“I strongly encourage both candidates and voters to utilise the Policy.nz website to the fullest, so that New Zealanders can make informed decisions at election time.

“We are also proposing that councils for the 2025 elections provide additional orange bins at key locations such as supermarkets, malls and libraries, given the decline in post. These were used very effectively in the 2024 special Tauranga City Council election, with 86% of voting papers returned via the orange bins.

“Using Policy.nz to improve candidate information and orange bins for returning voting papers are just interim measures being proposed for the 2025 elections. We are recommending a far greater shakeup for future elections but this will require legislative reform.

“The current Local Electoral Act is tired and outdated. Participation rates have dropped so low they are a risk to our mandate to speak on behalf of our communities. We need to reassert the importance of local democracy and update the system, so it works better for New Zealand. We are proposing to align the local electoral system as closely as possible with the parliamentary system where voter participation is twice as high.”

LGNZ President Sam Broughton says councils make decisions that impact people’s lives on a daily basis.

“Councils are responsible for things like local roads, drinking water and wastewater systems, parks and public transport, rubbish and recycling to pools and libraries. It’s easy to take these services for granted and for people to wonder what they get for their rates without seeing how councils shape their lives,” says Sam Broughton.

“We need those people to have their say and to vote, so that councils deliver what communities want. Delivering what 40% want isn’t enough.

“LGNZ will be advocating hard for this report’s recommendations, which have strong support, and we’ll work to shift that support into action for the 2028 elections.”

View the ERWG final position paper at: https://d1pepq1a2249p5.cloudfront.net/media/documents/ERWG_final_position_paper.pdf

About LGNZ: 
LGNZ champions, connects and supports local government. We represent the national interest of councils across New Zealand to deliver more of what matters in their communities. LGNZ is involved in policy, reforms, programmes, and advocacy as well as providing advice, consultancy and training to councils and their staff.

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