Source: Radio New Zealand
Several Auckland councillors think it’s time to abandon postal voting for local elections. RNZ / Eveline Harvey
Is it time to abandon postal voting for local elections?
Several Auckland councillors think so, with voter turnout in the region continuing to decline.
Less than a third of Aucklanders voted in the 2025 local elections. Twenty-nine percent or 345,004 registered electors voted, even fewer than in the previous two elections, where 35 percent voted.
This week, the Auckland Council released data on who is voting, and who is not.
The data reflects a lot of what we already know about local elections, including that young people are less likely to vote, and that voter turnout generally increases with age.
In Auckland, the number of 18 and 19-year-olds participating in local elections dropped from 31,691 in 2019 to 20,791 in 2025, a 34 percent decrease.
Voting had increased for most age groups over 25 in that time. But there was a decline in voter turnout for those aged 61 to 75 in 2025. In 2019, 54 percent of electors in that age group voted, compared to 44 percent in 2025.
As seen in previous elections, in 2025, voter turnout was the lowest in what the council identified as socio-economically deprived neighbourhoods, particularly in southern and western Auckland.
Whau ward councillor Sarah Paterson-Hamlin. Supplied
Whau ward councillor Sarah Paterson-Hamlin said the data was “depressing but not surprising”.
“It’s really upsetting, and what’s particularly gutting about it is that the trends are getting worse, and it shows around the local board tables and council table in terms of what lived experience is being represented and what’s being discussed.”
She supported a change to in-person voting for local elections.
“Postal voting isn’t helping. Central government elections have a turnout that’s really enviable, but our local elections don’t. One of the reasons for that has to be that one is postal and one isn’t.
“The fact that it’s all done by postal vote means it takes a lot of effort to change your electoral details when you move, and if you’re renting, you’re possibly moving quite frequently. It’s another thing that increases the lack of representation from people in lower socio-economic areas.”
She suspected postal voting was also a barrier for voters with disabilities, although the council did not collect data on that demographic.
Manukau councillor Alf Filipaina. RNZ / Felix Walton
Manukau councillor Alf Filipaina agreed more should be done to increase the number of people voting in his area.
“We need to change the system and hopefully engage more people, particularly the young.”
He said several years ago, Manukau City councillors and staff would visit local schools and talk to students about issues with roaming dogs, rubbish, and wastewater and stormwater.
“I know it was taken up by most of the high schools. When we explained what the council actually does it surprised quite a few of them.
“I think that’s one way to get rangatahi engaged.”
He believed there were a lot of issues with postal voting, and that it made sense to explore other options.
His fellow Manukau councillor Lotu Fuli said voting in Auckland had reached a new low.
Manukau councillor Lotu Fuli. Nick Monro
She described postal voting as “archaic” and she strongly supported moving away from it.
She said postal voting was also “vulnerable to tampering by those seeking to undermine democracy” as seen in Papatoetoe in the last elections.
Associate professor in politics at Victoria University of Wellington, Dr Lara Greaves, said: “It’s a concern that pretty much every local election we talk about voter turnout being a really big problem. There have been multiple reviews now saying this. But we are seeing government after government not doing very much to change anything.
“Hopefully, at some point central government does something to value local government and make it a bigger part of people’s lives, perhaps making it more efficient and investing in ways to make democracy better.
“A lot of people argue that if the Electoral Commission brought in their mandate and was funded to do so, they would run local government elections in a more efficient way than the private companies who are contracted by local councils. But there’s not a lot of information about how these companies operate in the public domain.”
Political scientist & Victoria University of Wellington Associate Professor Dr Lara Greaves RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
She said the government needed to seriously look at whether postal voting was still suitable.
“There has been a decline in New Zealand post services across the country, and certain groups, especially lower socio-economic groups and younger people, are more likely to move house.
“Perhaps it’s time to rethink postal voting. Having more in-person voting locations is one thing that has often been promoted.”
She said people not knowing enough about candidates or the role of local government was also known to deter voters.
“Many components of local government and democracy could do better to explain what local government is.
“But the public aren’t necessarily crying out for more stories or information about local government, and therefore journalists and local government people don’t provide that. It becomes a bit circular and quite impossible to solve.”
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has been contacted for comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
