Local Body Elections – Vote 2019

South Wairarapa District Council is responsible for making important decisions around the key issues affecting our community, your families and your everyday life, including how public resources are allocated.

Read the Council Chief Executive’s Pre-Election Report [PDF; 2.4MG] to find out about the key issues facing the Council, its financial position and its major projects over the next three years.

To see how many voting papers have been returned in each district, visit this link, http://www.electionz.com/LGE2019resource/LGE2019returns.html.

Meet the candidates

Find out who is standing in this List of Candidates.
Read the Candidate Profile Booklet to find out what they stand for.
If you have questions and want to contact a candidate, here are their Contact Details.

NOTE: Due to there not being enough candidates to make up full community boards in Featherston and Greytown, there will be by-elections in due course.

Vote early

The local election is being run by postal vote, you can’t return voting papers electronically.

Voting papers, along with candidate bios, are being posted out to eligible voters from 20 September. Full instructions on how to vote are included with your voting papers, including a stamp addressed envelope to return your postal vote to the Polling Station in Christchurch.

Make sure your postal votes are received by noon on Election Day, Saturday 12 October. We encourage you to think of Saturday 5 October as ‘Voting Day’ and to post your vote then to ensure it’s received in time. NZ Post cannot guarentee delivery in time for voting papers posted after Tuesday 8 October.

If you miss the last postal date, you can hand deliver your voting papers at Council offices at 19 Kitchener St, Martinborough, by midday Saturday 12 October.

Alternatively, Wellington City Council will allow electors living in the greater Wellington region, including Wairarapa residents, to return ordinary votes and cast special votes at its Arapaki Manners Library and Service Centre: Special Vote Hub. The hours of service will be in general 8am–5pm, Monday through Friday, however, additional hours of service will be made available from Saturday 5 October to 12pm Saturday 12 October 2019.

The Electoral Commission will provide for electors living in the greater Wellington region to enrol to vote and return voting documents at the Wellington Railway Station ballot boxes. These will be staffed between Monday 7 October and Friday 11 October during the hours of 6.30am to 9.30am and 4pm to 6.30pm to collect voting documents from electors during the peak commuter periods.

Not enroled? Request a Special Vote

Although the published electoral rolls have now closed, you can still enrol to vote – go to vote.nz to enrol online or phone the Electoral Commission on 0800 36 56 76 if you need help or have questions.

If you are only just enrolling now, it’s too late to have your voting papers sent to you so you will need to request a Special Vote to vote in this local election. These can be picked up from the Council office in Martinborough from 20 September until 11 October. Phone Council on 06 306 9611 if you have any questions about this.

For more informaiton about local body elections, visit vote.nz.

Own a property in the District but live outside?

You can still vote in the local body elections in South Wairarapa.

Complete the Enrolment Form for Ratepayer Electors.

Overseas and absentee voting

If you will be away during the voting period, you will need to provide Council with an address where the voting paper can be sent to you between 20-25 September 2019.

This could be:

a hotel
the house of a friend or family member.

You will then fill in the paper as usual and post it back using the provided envelope. You will need to add postage. Voting papers cannot be received electronically.

We recommend posting your voting paper as soon as possible to ensure it is with the electoral officer before midday on Saturday 12 October 2019.

Key dates for 2019 local elections

29 June	Enrolment update packs sent to all enrolled voters from this date
16 August	Enrolment closes for the printed electoral roll — enrol by this date to get your voting papers in the mail. If you enrol after this day, you’ll have to request special voting papers from your local council’s electoral officer
20–25 September	Voting documents sent to all enrolled voters
Tuesday 8 October	Last day to post your postal vote (miss this then hand deliver to Council offices, 19 Kitchener St, Martinborough by midday Saturday 12 October)
11 October	Last day to enrol to vote in the local elections
Saturday, 12 October	Voting closes at midday. Preliminary results available soon after.
17-23 October (or as soon as is practicable)	Official results declared (including special votes)

Information for candidates

Candidate information handbook [PDF; 2.8MG]
Candidate briefing presentation [PDF; 2.2MG]
Elected member protocols