Elections

Elections 2019-22

Council conducts elections every three years. The next elections for South Waikato District Council will be held in October 2019. If you are interested in standing for Council it is advisable to attend one or several Council meeting(s) to get a feel for what being an elected member is all about and the work that Council does. The relevant Council and Community Board meeting dates are here.

Keep an eye on this page - detailed information will be added as it becomes available and relevant.

Key Election dates

Friday 19 July - Candidate nominations open
Friday 19 July - Electoral roll open for inspection
Friday 16 August - Candidate nominations close (sharp at 12 noon) NOTE: Don't wait until this final day to bring your nomination in. If there is a problem, there may not be enough time to fix the problem before noon!
Wednesday 21 August (or as soon as practicable) - public notice of election candidate names
Friday 20 September to Wednesday 25 September - delivery of voting documents
Saturday 12 October - Election Day (voting closes 12 noon)

ENROL to VOTE

Want to vote and not enrolled? ENROL now at this link. If you don't enrol by Friday 19 July, you will need to process a Special Vote.

Media Statements

Follow this link for all Council's media statements submitted regarding the Elections.

SWDC backs LGNZ Vote 2019 campaign - submitted Monday 20 May 2019
SWDC promotes Candidate Information Session - submitted Tuesday 11 June 2019

General information - useful documents

FAQs

Check out some Frequently Asked Questions here.

Enrollment

Not enrolled to vote? Download an enrollment form here.

Questions

If you have questions you can contact our Electoral Officer.

Elections systems

Council recently made a decision about the voting system we will be using for the 2019 Local Elections. There are two voting systems available to us in New Zealand - First Past the Post (FPP) and Single Transferable Vote (STV). Council has resolved to remain with FPP - a decision that went unchallenged by our community.

What is First Past the Post (FPP)?

Under the FPP electoral system, the candidate with the most votes wins. This is a very simple method of electing candidates and is widely used throughout the world.

What is Single Transferable Vote (STV)?

Under a STV electoral system, voters rank candidates in their order of preference. A good example to consider is an election to select three councillors for a ward in a council election. Under STV, you would write '1' next to the name of your favourite candidate, '2' next to your second favourite candidate and so on. STV means that you have one vote, but can indicate your preferences for all the candidates. Your vote can be transferred if your most preferred candidate is so popular they don't need all their votes to get in or is not popular at all with other voters.

More detail on FPP and STV can be found here.

Return of Electoral Donations and Expenses

Expenses for Elections are required under the Electoral Act to be publicly available for seven years.

2016-19 Election period data

The 2016 election expenses are below:

Tīrau Community Board - by-election 2019

Expenses for the 2018 Tīrau Community Board by-election are required under the Electoral Act to be publicly available for seven years. Expenses for the by-election are here.

2013-2016 Election period data

The 2013 election expenses are here.