An election to replace Mosgiel Taieri Community Board member John Kelly is set to cost the city $15,000, but it was the alphabetical order of candidates' names on voting documents that prompted the most discussion yesterday.
The Dunedin City Council had to make some rulings on the by-election, required after Mr Kelly resigned recently, including that $15,000 be included in the council's civic budget.
That was done, but not before a discussion about a long-standing gripe with some councillors whose surnames start with a letter further down the alphabet.
A report on the issue gave three options: alphabetical order; "pseudo-random order", where names are drawn at random and placed on voting documents in that order; and random order, where software is used to print names in different order on each paper.
Crs Bill Acklin, and John Bezett supported alphabetical order.
Cr Teresa Stevenson did not.
"Being Cr Stevenson with an 'S'," she supported random order.
Cr Acklin argued voters got confused by random order, especially when they were looking for a name on the voting paper.
When two people in a household got forms with names in different order "it really throws them".
Cr Richard Walls, despite sharing a "W" name with Crs Colin Weatherall and Kate Wilson, said alphabetical lists were "what we are used to", and what was taught in schools, before launching into a short tirade about "degraded" schooling and the loss of knowledge of how to use apostrophes.
Deputy Mayor Syd Brown said elections so far in the triennium had used the alphabetical system, and that should stay until the next election.
The council voted in that direction.
Nominations for the vacant position close on May 28.
Although it is for the Taieri subdivision seat, nominees do not have to live in the area to stand.
Voting documents will be delivered by June 25, with the by-election scheduled for July 17.
