A candidate yesterday ruled out of standing for the Queenstown Lakes District Council because of a previously undiscovered error on her nomination form - submitted last Monday - says she is "gutted".
Council corporate and regulatory general manager Roger Taylor said it was "with regret" Ange van der Laan was informed yesterday her nomination form "had to be counted as invalid" because the error was not detected before noon on Friday.
"Every candidate must be nominated by two nominators who live in the ward for which the individual is standing - in this case, one of Ms van der Laan's nominators came from another ward and unfortunately this was overlooked by council staff," Mr Taylor said.
She had been nominated to stand for the Arrowtown ward by Jonathan Palmer, of Arrowtown, and outgoing councillor Gillian Macleod, of Queenstown.
While it was the candidate's responsibility to submit a valid nomination form, the council took an "advisory role" and could "point out issues with a form, in order for them to be remedied before the Friday cut-off date".
"In this case, Ms van der Laan had her nomination into the council in ample time, which is all the more frustrating for all parties.
It came down to human error on both sides."
In a statement last night, Ms van der Laan said she was "gutted" she had been "deprived the opportunity" to stand.
"I'm shocked that this can actually happen."
In an email to Ms van der Laan, Mr Taylor confirmed the nomination was checked first by customer services staff and then by the electoral officer prior to nominations closing.
Ms van der Laan yesterday also said nomination information the council provided to candidates was "inadequate".
Mr Taylor said in his email the council accepted there was "an error" in the Candidate Information Book.
"However, the requirement that the nominators be located in the ward that the candidate is standing in is stated elsewhere in that document and attached to the nomination form.
"We do accept that because of that error in the booklet there is confusion that could have and should have been avoided and we apologise for that confusion," the email said.
Ms van der Laan accepted people were human and could make mistakes, but her experience showed "underlying systemic flaws".
She had "no wish" to enter into a legal argument with the council over the issue but was interested to know what steps would be taken to prevent a recurrence.
The council would review its checking measures and material for candidates for future elections, Mr Taylor said.
He had offered to meet Ms van der Laan this week to apologise.
