Rehette Stoltz: Gisborne Mayor on review into low turnout in local body elections

A long-awaited rethink of local body elections is underway, as Local Government New Zealand seeks feedback on how to tackle poor voter turnout.

Little over 40 percent of the population had their say in 2022.

A bordering on ancient postal system could be the blame.

Electoral reform group member and Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz joined Mike Hosking.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bake home on democracy. The abysmal turnout at our local
body elections as being officially looked at local government. New
Zealand is looking for a bit of feedback about forty
percent of us turn out last time, which is dreadful.
The Electoral Reform Group member and the Gisburnd mayor of
course right his stults is, well, that's very good morning
to you.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Do you realistically, hand on heart, believe there is something
out there that we haven't already thought of that can
actually motivate people to turn up.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I do think if we take a look at how
we vote at the stage we use the postal system.
No one us mailboxes anymore. If you think of the
general elections, there's a voting day, it is nationally advertised.
So maybe if we take a look and make it
easier for people to vote, we can get more people involved.
But on top of that we also need to make

(00:47):
sure people want to be involved in local politics, because
at this stage quite a few people say they only
interact with their council when they receive their rates. Bull
and I challenge that by saying, no, you travel on roat,
you drink water, so you should really be invested in
having your say, who do you want to make those
decisions on your behalf?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Couldn't agree more. But that's all theory, isn't otherwise we
would be acting. I mean, there's never been a better
example at the moment surely around the country of carnage
and disaster that would, in theory, motivate people to want
to participate, isn't there.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
I do think after a lot of people received bigger
rights bolls this year, they might think next year when
it's election time, let's take a good look. Whoever candidates
standing in my room, I maybe one to stand do.
I think I can do a better job. Because also,
if you take a look at what proportion of your
salary do you pay over to government taxes, and you

(01:44):
think what proportion do you pay to your rates, you
are motivated to vote in government elections because it's a
huge amount you pay. So maybe if people start thinking
a lot of practical things around me are affected by
my counsel, let's get involved and see if we can
make it better for us in our local spot.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
As part of the problem though in an understanding candidates
understanding policies is it's such a crapshoot. At council level,
you don't know what you're going to get. At least nationally,
you get a side, you get the left, or you
get the right. Well, then councils you can get a
bit of everything, and then that may or may not work.
And that's the problem.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
That's one of the issues we identified when we ask
people why do you not participate? Lots of people said,
I don't know the candidates. I don't know what they're
standing for. You know, once elections come around, a few
billboards go up, some people advertise on the radio, but
you don't really know what people stand for. Because we

(02:40):
pride ourselves that local government isn't really tied to political parties,
so there might be a win and a lose in there.
But that's part of the work to also make sure
candidates are advertised in a way that's maybe more consistent
across the country.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
All right, let's see what happens with it. Really appreciate
time registers. Here's the Gismond mayor, but also a member
of this group looking at the other they're looking at
as possibility of four year terms. I'm just wondering, if
you're listening to this in Wellington, whether you'd be interested
in a good, solid four year term at the moment
to given what you're dealing with. For more from the
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(03:15):
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