Auckland Council’s shift to in-person voting should prompt nationwide reform

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling for the next government to deliver a nationwide, in-person voting system administered and promoted by the Electoral Commission, following decisions made by Auckland Council today.

Dame Fran Wilde, Mayor of South Wairarapa and Chair of LGNZ’s Local Government System Reference Group, says Auckland Council is responding to real and urgent problems with postal voting.

“Postal voting is losing public trust. The postal system is in significant decline: postal delivery days and post boxes numbers are decreasing. Mail volume has reduced by more than 80% in recent decades and is projected to decrease further. Voting by mail is becoming an unviable way for councils to run a democratic process.

“In Auckland, the council has also been dealing with a court-ordered re-run of a Local Board election due to postal voting fraud.”

LGNZ’s view is that Auckland Council’s decision should not be a one-off and should prompt wider change by the next Government. Changing to in-person voting delivered by the Electoral Commission was a key recommendation of LGNZ’s Electoral Reform Working Group report (chaired by Hon Dr Nick Smith, Mayor of Nelson).

“LGNZ is calling on all parties to support local elections being run in the same way as general elections – and to prioritise this change in the next term of Parliament.

“Councils technically can choose to switch individually to booth voting, like Auckland Council has. However, it would be much more cost-effective and improve voter turnout if elections were run centrally by the Electoral Commission rather than by each individual council.

“Voter turnout in the 2025 local government elections was just 39 percent. The Electoral Commission has significant experience and expertise, and running local elections would have the benefit of recruiting its Orange Guy and Pup to the task of getting people to vote with a consistent, nationwide campaign.”

“It’s not just the local government sector calling for change. Six parliamentary reviews of local elections since 2010 have recommended that the Electoral Commission should oversee local elections. We urge the next government to finally act on these recommendations.”