How interested are Invercargill's potential voters?
What does it say about local government interest if less than half of people, who are able to, actually make the effort to vote?
How engaged is Invercargill with local body politics?
The turnout at public candidate meetings for the current Invercargill City Council by-election was… well…. a little underwhelming.
Fourteen candidates are in the running for the council seat vacated by Nigel Skelt.
How much cut-through have those candidates had? We’ll get a better idea come midday Friday when voting closes, but to date, the by-election it seems hasn’t created a wave of interest in the city.
At last update on Monday, just 22.26% of eligible voters had cast their vote. That’s just over 8,500 of the just over 38,500 eligible voters.
At last month’s Gore by-election, the voter turnout was 39.38% with Andy Fraser winning with just over 620 votes.
What does it say about local government interest if less than half of people, who are able to, actually make the effort to vote?
When Marcus Lush won the 2021 Invercargill by-election it attracted a 36% voter turnout.
Lush picked up over 7000 of the 14,700 votes cast.
There’s still time to have your say as to which of the 14 candidates should pick up a seat at the council table.
Go on, do some study and make the effort.
For more information on the Invercargill City Council by-election head to 2023 By-election | Invercargill City Council (icc.govt.nz)