Council chooses to stick with First Past the Post voting method
At a meeting yesterday, Council decided to retain the voting system First Past the Post (FPP) for the 2016 Triennial Local Elections.
The voting options available are FPP and Single Transferable Vote (STV). Our Council has always held elections under FPP. Frequent arguments against STV are that the system is more complex for both voters and electoral staff.
"Marking ticks next to names as you do for FPP is just easier for the majority of people to understand," said Richard Fisk, Council's Electoral Officer. "In this District, the FPP voting system results in fewer spoilt ballot papers than STV (the system used for electing the Waikato District Health Board)."
STV requires votes to be inputted into a computer programme through scanning. A large number of papers are rejected by this automatic system because of illegible handwriting. The rejected papers need to be checked manually by a large number of electoral staff, to input many of the votes manually. Even so, significant numbers of STV voting papers are declared informal.
"The community can overturn Council's decision by calling for a poll," said Council's Electoral Officer Richard Fisk. "At least 5% of people (738 persons) who were eligible to vote at the last election (ie, 2013 elections) need to submit a written request to hold a poll to decide between the two voting systems. If 738 or more valid requests are received by the Council by 28 February 2015, the result of the poll (FPP or STV) will apply for the 2016 and 2019 Council elections. If the required number of requests for a poll are received, but not until after 28 February 2015, a poll must still be held, but the result will not come into effect until the 2019 and 2022 elections."
Every elector signing a written request for a poll must write their full name and the address for which they are qualified as an elector of the South Waikato District Council.
If Council receives no such demand for a poll or if we receive a demand with insufficient legitimate signatures, the 2016 elections will be held under the FPP system. Ends: words: 349
