Voter turnout building in South

Maree Ross, of Dunedin, casts her vote at the Civic Centre plaza on Monday. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON

Voter turnout has picked up in some areas across the South as an informal poll has suggested a tight race among four of the candidates for Dunedin mayor.

Team Dunedin’s Jules Radich was the top choice in the Otago Daily Times poll of more than 100 shoppers yesterday by a lead of less than 2%.

With the election to end on Saturday, today is the last day votes can be cast via post.

Returned votes lagged behind 2019 election rates during the first half of the voting period.

Last Wednesday, the Southland District Council was alone in recording a higher cumulative return rate of voting papers compared to the corresponding date in 2019.

It continues to pull ahead, having a cumulative return rate of 27.53% yesterday, up from 20.18% for the corresponding date in 2019.

However, the Dunedin City Council and Gore District Council are now also reporting higher cumulative figures than in the previous election.

The Dunedin City Council’s cumulative return rate was 21.19% yesterday, compared to 20.23% for the corresponding date in 2019.

The figure is up from a culminated return of 11.45% last Wednesday.

Gore District Council was at 33% yesterday, compared to 2019’s 30.61%

However, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Central Otago District Council, Waitaki District Council, and Invercargill City Council were down on 2019.

Local Government NZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said there was particular concern that voter turnout would be much lower in areas where there are mayors who are elected unopposed, such as Central Otago.

“Generally councils that have competitive races enjoy better turnouts. Just because a mayoralty race is already a done deal, doesn’t mean we should let complacency creep in", she said.

“Mayors play an important leadership role, but it's vital that you have a say on who is around the council chambers too. Councillors have just as much say in policies and decisions as mayors. We encourage everyone, even if you're not enrolled yet to enrol and vote. You can still enrol online and cast a special vote at your local council office."

The Otago Daily Post asked potential Dunedin voters at New World Centre City and Pak’nSave Dunedin who their top choice for mayor was.

More than 100 shoppers responded they had already voted, or intended to vote in the election. The informal poll showed a tight race among the top four mayoralty candidates.

Team Dunedin’s Jules Radich was the top candidate with 19.81%, followed closely by Sophie Barker with 17.92%.

Mayor Aaron Hawkins came third with 16.04% of the vote, and behind him was Cr Lee Vandervis on 14.15%.

Carmen Houlahan was further behind in fifth attracting 2.83% of the vote and 4.72% was split among the other candidates.

The informal poll showed many voters were still yet to make a decision, 24.53% saying they were unsure who they would select as their top choice.

Quite a few people spoken to by the ODT said they were not going to vote.

One man said he had just moved to Dunedin and voting without knowing who the candidates were would be ‘‘irresponsible’’.

A student said he did not vote in local body elections but ‘‘I do in the main [elections] though’’, and one woman said she would not be voting because she was ‘‘not taken by any of the candidates’’.

Another man decided that although he was interested in the election, he would not be making a vote.

‘‘It’s just a complete waste of time anyway. They’re all nutters,’’ he said.