And voters face their own challenge: to take the time to do some research, discover who is running, and who they think will best represent the city in the future.
In March, Dunedin's voting system was given a comprehensive overhaul.
The Local Government Commission ruled the city council's system of six wards should be scrapped in favour of one large urban ward and two rural wards.
The urban ward, with a population of 99,880, will have 11 councillors, while the Mosgiel-Taieri ward will have two and Waikouaiti Coast-Chalmers one.
The advantage is most voters will not be restricted to voting for just three or four councillors, but can vote for, or against, 11.
The disadvantage is candidates will have to go further than door knocking and handing out pamphlets in just a few suburbs to get elected.
University of Otago political studies lecturer Associate Professor Janine Hayward said earlier this year while success in politics had always rested heavily on having a name that voters recognised, that became even more important with so many to choose from.
Assoc Prof Hayward noted few voters put serious effort into informing themselves about the candidates or the issues.
The election this year is also being held in an environment where fewer than 50% of voters bothered to vote in the last election and figures nationwide are on a downward spiral.
Candidates' response to that will become clearer as the election progresses, but the use of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, is far more widespread this year than in 2007.
Many candidates are also making sure they have an internet page.
Some are grouping together into tickets, Greater Dunedin and "progressive left" ticket Community Vision being two examples.
All have found their chances to speak to voters restricted.
The annual election meeting at the Caversham Presbyterian Church Hall was restricted to mayoral candidates this year, with organisers saying the numbers meant a council candidates meeting was not viable.
While sitting councillors, all of whom have run again, will have a name recognition advantage, they will likely suffer from the anti-council sentiment in the community.
That may leave the way for higher profile contenders, but the end result is anyone's guess, and the ball is in the contenders' court to make themselves as visible as possible.
In the Mosgiel-Taieri ward, sitting councillors Kate Wilson and Syd Brown face a challenge from former councillor Maurice Prendergast, who lost his seat at the last election, and will have to convince voters who showed him the door in 2007 he is worthy of a comeback.
The Waikouaiti Coast-Chalmers ward has a contest between just two, sitting councillor Andrew Noone and community board member Geraldine Tait, who polled a little over half Cr Noone's vote last year.