Kerre Woodham: Voting matters - don't scramble at the last minute

Well, better late than not at all. On Saturday morning, I went upstairs and said to my daughter, "Have you seen the orange envelopes that had all the voting?" "Oh, hell. Today, isn't it?" she said. "Yes." So we scrambled around and found it in that drawer that has everything, where they'd been since they arrived in the mail. And we had until midday to vote, so both got down to it, and I took hers in with mine to drop into the local library. I knew who I wanted to vote for, so that was relatively simple. And picked up her voting papers in the sealed envelope and mine, and went to our local library, and dropped them in.  

Which is what I did last local body elections. Scrambled around, but I had to make a special vote because I couldn't find my papers and posted them in Hamilton, at a library in Hamilton, just on the stroke of midday. I didn't even know if my vote counted, but hopefully it did. Hopefully I made it in time, and this time it certainly should. I wasn't the only one leaving it to the last minute, and I wasn't the only one scrambling around trying to get a special vote, as I'd done in the previous local body elections. The library was absolutely chocker when I went in there to post the envelopes. There was probably around about 30 odd people sitting on chairs and another 20 waiting to cast a special vote.

At least we were trying to have our say. At least, even though we'd left it to the very last minute, we were trying to have our say in local body elections. And hopefully, by the time all of the special votes have been counted, the voter turnout will come up slightly because at the moment, it's the lowest voter turnout in 36 years.

Less than a third of us, 32.65%, bothered to have our say. Of those who did, typically, it's the lazy city goers who were the most useless. In metro areas, only 28.8% cast their votes. Those in the provinces, 38.3%. While the rural turnout, yet again, it's the rural folk doing the heavy lifting, 43.6%. Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch saw mayors elected with a landslide, if you can call it that when you've got such a low proportion of voters turning out. Local Government New Zealand wants to get voter turnout to 80%. As they say in the Placemakers ad, tell him he's dreaming. Mayor Brown called it a strong endorsement to finish what he started, which is over-egging the omelette. Andrew Little felt thrilled, excited, and somewhat daunted by the job ahead as Wellington Mayor. And Phil Major was surprised at the size of his majority.

To be honest, I'm not particularly enthused about re-electing Wayne Brown. I did, but because there was very little in the way of options. He's not the most engaging of personalities, but, you know, when you're looking for a mayor, he turns up sober, gets things done, hasn't bonked anyone in the Ngati Whatua room. You know, so go Wayne. Better than you can say about other mayors around the country and in the past. And that's kind of how you get elected these days. If you're vaguely adequate, then people voters just think, thank heavens, and give you the tick. 
How on earth do we get a better turnout and more engaged communities? Councils matter. In 2024, councils across the country were responsible for $217 billion dollars' worth of assets and employed 39 and a half thousand staff.

They had a collective spending power of $20 billion dollars. It really matters. That's our money. Political parties know the power of controlling these assets. Blocks of politically motivated people try to get on councils to push their agendas through. And they can do that because of the apathy of the voters. I mean, look what happened in Wellington.

But what do we do? I think I'm preaching to the converted here. I imagine most of you would have been very sensible and cast your vote long before Saturday morning like me. But you and I are interested in politics. We know that we have a responsibility to vote. Don't we? I'm imagining that most of you would have turned out. If you didn't, I'd love to know why. If you did, how do we get more people to take an interest?

The good councillors, and you know the ones in your area, I know the ones in mine, do their level best to get out there an show you what they're doing, show you how they're spending your money, exhorting you to take an interest in what they're doing, exhorting you to critique their performance.

I don't know how it can be too hard. Maybe reading up on the backgrounds of the candidates, maybe reading what they want to spend your money on is hard. But so too is finding out that something you're vehemently opposed to or that your rates are going up and you've got no idea why. That's hard too. Choose your hard. Maybe having polling booths, maybe not having so long, because otherwise they go in that drawer where everything goes. I don't know. I would love to hear your ideas. Because it matters. It really does matter - $217 billion doll

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerry Wood of Morning's podcast from
News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
He'd be well better late than not at all. On
Saturday morning, I went upstairs and said to my daughter,
have you seen the orange envelopes that had all the
voting back?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hell, today, isn't it? She said yes? So we scrambled
around and found it in that draw that has everything
where there'd been since they arrived in the mail. And
we had until midday to vote. So both got down
to it and I took hers and with mine to
drop into the local library. I knew how I wanted
to vote for, so that was relatively simple. And picked

(00:48):
up her voting papers in the sealed envelope and mine
and went to our local library and dropped them in,
which is what I did last local body elections. Scrambled around,
but I had to make a special vote, and because
I couldn't find my papers, and posted them in Hamilton
at a library in Hamilton, just on the stroke of midday.

(01:13):
I don't even know if my vote counted, but hopefully,
hopefully I made it in time, and this time it
certainly should. I wasn't the only one leaving it to
the last minute, and I wasn't the only one scrambling
around trying to get a special vote, as I'd done
in the previous local body elections. The library was absolutely choker.
When I went in there to post the envelopes, there

(01:35):
was probably around about thirty odd people sitting on chairs
another twenty waiting to cast a special vote. At least
we were trying to have our say. At least, even
though we'd left it to the very last minute, we

(01:56):
were trying to have our say in local body elections.
And hopefully by the time all of the special votes
have been counted, the voter turnout will come up slightly,
because at the moment it's the lowest voter turnout in
thirty six years. Less than a third of us thirty

(02:18):
two point six five percent bothered to have ursay. Of
those who did, typically it's the lazy city goers who
were the most useless. In metro areas, only twenty eight
point eight percent cast their votes, those in the provinces

(02:39):
thirty eight point three percent, while the rural turnout. Yet again,
it's the rural folk doing the heavy lifting forty three
point six percent. Auckland, Wellington and christ Church saw mayors
elected with a landslide, if you can call it that.
When you've got such a low proportion of voters turning
out local government, New Zealand wants to get voter turnout

(03:03):
to eighty percent. As they say in the place makers,
they'd tell me he's dreaming. Mayor Brown called it a
strong endorsement to finish when he'd started, which is overegging
the omelet. Andrew Little felt thrilled, excited and somewhat daunted
by the job ahead as Wellington mayor, and Phil Major

(03:29):
was surprised at the size of his majority. To be honest,
I'm not particularly enthused about re electing Wayne Brown. I did,
but because there was very little in the way of options.
He's not the most engaging of personalities. But you know,
when you're looking for a mayor, he turns up sober,

(03:50):
gets things done, hasn't bonked anyone in the Nati fat
or a room, you know, So go Wayne. Better than
you can say about other mayors around the country and
in the past, and that's kind of how you get
elected the days. If you're vaguely adequate, then people voters
just think, thank Heavens and give you the tick. How

(04:15):
on earth do we get a better turnout and more
engaged communities. Councils matter. In twenty twenty four, councils across
the country were responsible for two one hundred and seventeen
billion dollars worth of assets and employed thirty one and
a half thousand staff. They had a collective spending power

(04:37):
of twenty billion dollars. It really matters, and that's our money.
Political parties know the power of controlling these assets. Blocks
of politically motivated people try to get on councils to
push their agendas through, and they can do that because
of the apathy of the voters. I mean, look what
happened in Wellington. But what do we do? I mean,

(05:01):
I think I'm preaching to the converted here. I imagine
most of you would have been very sensible and cast
your vote long before Saturday morning, like me. But you
and I are interested in politics. We know that we
have a responsibility to vote, don't we. I'm imagining that

(05:23):
most of you would have turned out. If you didn't,
I'd love to know why if you did, how do
we get more people to take an interest? The good
counselors and you know the ones in your area, I
know the ones in mine. Do their level best to
get out there and show you what they're doing, show

(05:44):
you how they're spending your money, exhorting you to take
an interest in what they're doing, exhorting you to critique
their performance. I don't know how it can be too hard.
You know, maybe maybe reading up on the backgrounds of

(06:09):
the candidates, maybe reading what they want to spend your
money on, is hard, But so too is finding out
that something you're vehemently opposed to, or that your rates
are going up and you've got no idea why. That's
hard to choose your heart. Maybe having polling booths, maybe

(06:35):
not having so long because otherwise they go in that
draw where everything goes the one earring and you can't
find the partner for it. The voting papers and the
spare archy. I don't know. I would love to hear
your ideas, because it matters. It really does matter. Two
hundred and seventeen billion dollars worth of assets and a

(06:58):
collective spending power of twenty billion dollars and two thirds
of New Zealand goes eh whatever.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
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