With one day to go, only about a-quarter of Invercargill residents have voted in the Invercargill City Council’s by-election, a council manager says.
The voting period to select one of 14 candidates to replace resigned councillor Nigel Skelt closes at noon tomorrow and council deputy electoral officer Michael Morris urged people to cast their votes.
He said by yesterday only 26.48% of voting papers had been returned in the Invercargill by-election.
"Our neighbours in the Gore district recently chalked up an impressive 40% of eligible residents voting during their by-election, so we still have a wee way to go to match their efforts."
By-elections typically had lower voter turnout than general or local body elections.
The city’s last by-election — held in 2021 — had a final return of 30%, he said.
"While our voter turnout so far is pretty comparable to last time around, it is still disappointing that so few people have taken the time to vote.
"Democracy is an important cornerstone in our society but it relies on the community being engaged."
While there was no longer time for votes returned through post to be counted, residents could still physically cast a vote in one of the orange voting bins found throughout Invercargill and Bluff, he said.
Steve Broad, Asha Dutt, Sebastien Fabre, Carl Heenan, David Hicks, Terry King, Graham Lewis, Rob Te Maiharoa, David Meades, Tom Morton, Andrea Murrell, David Pottinger, Ian Reeves and Lisa Tou-McNaughton are in the race.
