Ali Jones bought the electronic signage ad on Cranford St, which includes her Christchurch City Council email and states she is a (Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central) community board member.
Election signs are not permitted until July 8, nine weeks before election day. But Jones says the signage is not for her election campaign, rather it is to let community board constituents know they can contact her with any issues.
“It’s basically just to say: ‘Hey, look, I’m here if you need to get in touch’,” said Jones.
She is running against Cotter for the Innes Ward seat on the city council - a race she lost to Cotter by only eight votes in the 2022 local body election.
The issue garnered attention after it was posted to the Christchurch Reddit page where online users accused Jones of a "shrewd" method to avoid campaign signage rules.
Jones acknowledges the billboard is an effort to boost her image in the ward, but says it also has benefits for constituents.
"I’m very straight-up. I don’t like to play games. I do want to be sitting around that council table and raising my profile does help that, but at the same time the sign helps me do my job as an elected member."
She started paying for the advertisements early last month.
Electoral Commission standards state an ‘election advertisement’ is recognised as such if it encourages people to vote for a particular candidate, party or type of candidate with certain views.
Cotter said the matter raises concerns about early campaign spending not needing to be legally declared as an electoral expense.
She acknowledged that, even if Jones’ signage was legally considered campaigning, the expense would not need to be declared under current rules as it was outside the three-month campaign period.
“I think the Electoral Commission should really look at that ... perhaps any spending within 12 months should be (counted),” said Cotter.
