Any changes to the voting system to improve voter turnout need to be secure and accessible, Ashburton District Council chief executive says.
Ashburton is tracking towards a 50 per cent voter turnout ahead of the local election ballot boxes closing on Saturday.
That figure will likely rank high in the participation rates nationwide, but it is still cause for concern at the dwindling number of voters.
There are growing calls for online voting to be made available next time the public return to the polls in 2025 with the current postal vote system under fire as being outdated.
The Ashburton District Council hasn’t discussed online voting, but chief executive, Hamish Riach, is supportive of any initiative that will help to strengthen local democracy and encourage voting turnout.
“It will be important that any future voting system is secure and accessible, so our community can have a high level of confidence in the integrity of the results.”
As it stands, the majority of those that are actively voting in the Ashburton District use the post, he said.
“The number of votes received through ballot boxes is still relatively low when compared with mail.”
Under the current system, voters needed to have sent their voting papers in the post by Tuesday or place it in one of the collection boxes at either the council offices, Ashburton Library, or Methven Memorial Hall before midday on Saturday.
Those are the only three drop-off options available which is two more than in 2016 when there was only one at the council offices.
More or a mobile ballot-box may be looked at in future, Riach said, to reach the smaller towns in the district.
“We have noted that some councils are using ‘roving’ ballot boxes this election and we’ll be watching their results with interest to see if the concept would be worth trialling here in the future.”
A number of elected officials around the country have called for a move away from paper forms to digital technology including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said she supported exploring options to increase turnout.
One candidate during the current campaign had touched on a surprising suggestion to increase voter turnout.
Openly anti-mandate Ashburton Ward and Braided Rivers Community Trust candidate, Shfire Sapphire, suggested making voting in local body elections mandatory as a way to increase turnout when she spoke at the Grey Power meet the candidates event.

• By Jonathan Leask