The most interesting result of the local body elections was the election of the Auckland mayor, Len Brown. He won with 221,000 votes while John Banks got 161,000. Len Brown had been the mayor of Manukau in South Auckland. Now eight councils have become one council of this new super-city. 20 councillors were voted onto the council. Four of those were ex-mayors from Auckland councils and another one was the head of the Auckland Regional Council.
Another interesting result was in Christchurch where Bob Parker kept his job as mayor. Before the earthquake, more people said they were planning to vote for Jim Anderton; however, after the earthquake, this changed. Voters thought Bob Parker worked very hard and did a good job helping the people of Christchurch.
In Dunedin, the mayor Peter Chin lost his seat to Dave Cull who had been on the council. In Wellington, mayor Kerry Prendergast is leading by 40 votes but there are 1000 special votes which have not been counted yet so this result could change.
In 2007, only 44% of eligible people voted. It is too early to know how many people voted this time but Aucklanders showed a lot of interest in the elections for the new super-city so the percentage of voters is probably more than last elections.
Listen to September 26 2010 for more about Auckland and local body elections.
Questions
1. Is a postal vote better than going to a polling place to vote?
2. Is three weeks too long or not long enough to do your postal voting?
3. Why do you think less than 50% of eligible voters have voted in the past?