How to vote from an isolated Marlborough Sounds island

Tuesday, 8 October 2019

Late voting papers, once weekly mail collection, and no face-to-face candidate meetings - are just some of the hurdles voters face living on a remote Marlborough Sounds island.

D'Urville Island's 40 permanent residents struggle more than most to have their say in local body elections, despite being just 500 metres from the mainland.

D'Urville Island resident Pip Aplin said he wanted to vote in this year's elections, but suspected his papers would not arrive on time, due to his remote location.

'We only get the mail once a week … With voting, we always tread a fine line getting it back in time. We slip through the cracks,' Aplin said.

**READ MORE:

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Residents were not able to fill out voting papers as soon as they arrived, because the mail boat moved on as soon as it delivered cargo, he said.

Aplin felt online voting would suit d'Urville Island residents better.

The Marlborough District Council had hoped to use a new online voting trial to up voter count for this year's local body elections, but shelved the idea due to the likely $4.2 million cost. It said it would revisit the idea after the 2019 elections.

Aplin said in the past he had relied heavily on the candidate information booklet which came out with voting papers, as the island didn't receive many newspapers.

Despite their remoteness Marlborough Sounds ward residents are leading the ballot return charge, with 29.6 per cent of the ward's registers voters, or 1953 people, having voted by Tuesday.

Hot on the heels of the Marlborough Sounds ward were voters in the Wairau-Awatere ward, with 27.9 per cent, or 2302 people having voted by Tuesday. The Blenheim ward was in third place with 27.1 per cent, or 5209 people casting their votes.

Electoral officer Dean Heiford said 27.8 per cent of eligible voters, or 9464 people, had returned their papers as of Monday afternoon, this compared to 33.8 per cent of voters at the same time during the 2016 election, and 33.3 per cent in 2013.

There are 34,026 registered voters in Marlborough. Marlborough had a 53.7 per voter turnout in the 2016 election.

D'Urville Island Wilderness Resort owner Judith Andreassend said she and her husband often didn't vote in local body elections as they were unable to meet candidates without travelling great distances.

'You don't know who they are and what they can do for you,' she said.

'It's more the personal part of it. I don't want to be reading about what they can do in the booklet, as anyone could be writing that stuff, but listening to what they can do. That's the most important part, their body language and everything.'

Longtime d'Urville Island resident Terry Savage, who had cast his vote, said picking a candidate to back was an 'unknown choice' for residents.

'We don't get anything unless we go online,' he said.

Savage chose his candidates after reading the candidate information booklet. He walked two kilometres to deliver his mail to its beachfront drop-off point.

Savage said it was important to vote as 'if you don't vote, you can't grizzle'.

THE LOYAL VOTER

Redwood Rest Home resident Rita Paynter, 92, has voted in every election she was eligible for, as a way to give back to the community.

'When I vote, I struggle to chose people who are unknown to me,' she said.

'I think ideas are the same, they all say kind of the same thing in candidate booklet. But I have voted now and need to honour that decision the best I can.

'I cannot see why people don't vote. I feel they might not be community focused.'

THE FIRST-TIME VOTER

First-time voter Demi Fearn, 18, said she hadn't cast her vote for the Blenheim ward yet, but was 'quite excited' about the chance to do so.

'I've talked to a couple of friends about it, and we all ask each other, 'Have you voted yet?' It's a thing. It's the first time we want to read all about it,' she said.

'I think to make my decision, I will look into what each candidate is willing to offer and what their values are, then go for someone with similar values to what I want and what I want my community to look like.'

Fearn valued candidates who were willing to care for Marlborough's 'very special' environment and community, and were also open to the region's youth.

WHERE TO VOTE

Voting closes at noon on October 12. Votes can also be cast on election day in boxes at the council's foyer between 8am and noon.

From Wednesday onwards, completed forms should be taken to the Marlborough District Council offices or libraries in Blenheim and Picton.