Dunedin’s voting system up for discussion

An extraordinary Council meeting has been scheduled for Friday to allow Councillors to decide on their preference – whether to continue with the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system or switch to First Past the Post (FPP).

DCC Chief Executive Sandy Graham says Friday’s meeting has been called at short notice to comply with statutory requirements for councils wanting to consider any change to their voting system.

Councils have until 12 September to decide whether to change their voting system for the 2028 elections, or continue with the existing one, and then have until 19 September to notify the public of the preferred voting system.

“Unfortunately, the approaching 12 September deadline was overlooked until yesterday, but we’ve been working quickly since then to rectify the oversight.

“An extraordinary Council meeting will be held on Friday afternoon (12 September), to give Councillors and the public as much time as possible to consider the issue while still meeting the 12 September timeframe.”

Ms Graham says the process being followed complies with the timeframes of both the Local Electoral Act 2001 and Standing Orders.

However, improvements will be made to avoid any repeat of the oversight in future.

The outcome of Friday’s meeting will be followed by a public process beginning with public notification of the decision by 19 September.

The public’s ability to participate in the process is not impacted by the short notice given for Friday’s meeting.

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