So, guess what - according to Local Government NZ, voter turnout around the country for the local body elections has been dismal. Surprised?

On Friday afternoon, 983,466 votes had been received around the country, which represented 28.49 percent of all eligible votes. That's under 30 percent. Blimey.  

As of Friday, our biggest city, and one with a multitude of issues apparently, had the lowest voting percentage of 21.8 percent, followed by Hamilton City with 22.98 percent and Porirua City with 25.11 percent.

Council Governance and Engagement general manager Lou-Ann Ballantyne encouraged people to vote if they hadn’t already. She reminded us that if you don’t vote, you’re letting someone else choose who represents you. Which is true. Or as Ray Chung so eloquently put it after his defeat in the Wellington mayoralty race: “This is your decision. Live with it.”

But we still don’t seem to care.  

By the end of Saturday, the overall percentage of voting around the country was 32.65 percent of eligible voters. Rural communities were much more engaged with 43.6 percent voting, provincial came in next at 38.3 percent, followed by metro results of 28.8 percent.

We don't have final data yet, but the stats tell us voting turnout in Auckland is on track to be the lowest in the city's history. 

So, what’s wrong with us? I thought most home owners cared about the increase in rates, our rubbish collections, the cost of consents, the state of speed limits on our local roads, the water prices. People always seem to have an opinion on their council and how well or how badly they’re performing. Apparently we’ve never been more disappointed in our councils.  

So why don’t people tick a couple of boxes, let democracy do the talking, and tell our councils what we want?  

Maybe it’s because people complain about council but also appreciate many of the services they offer communities. They cancel each other out. The status quo is ok. Apathy rules.  

But there’s also a lack of key challenges. Where was another strong candidate to challenge Wayne Brown, or Andrew Little?  

There’s also a lack of candidates. Two mayors will be elected unopposed and around 200 candidates were elected by default.

And then there’s the lack of easily accessible information on candidates - their values, and more importantly their vision. Not everyone has the time to get to a candidate meeting. Why is it so hard to find out how a current councillor or mayor has voted on issues throughout a term? Too many people are making decisions based on terrible photos in lacklustre voting booklets.  

And then there’s the reality that it’s all just a bit boring. Candidates generally campaign on the same things - keeping rates low, reducing excessive spending, maintaining infrastructure and making their city or region an affordable place to live. It’s all well-worn and hardly gripping stuff, and it’s difficult to differentiate between candidates, unless they’re wearing a silly hat.  

Which is all a terrible shame. Decisions councils make affect our lives daily in many ways. We need to change the voting system, postal voting isn't working,  and attract better leadership to these thankless roles. We need to stomp out abuse and harassment, pay more - and then hopefully more smart, reasonable people will step up.  

Perhaps then we will get off our butts and vote. 

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