Elections

2022 Elections

Elections of members of Environment Southland Regional Council Te Taiao Tonga are held once every three years, on the second Saturday in October.

The elections will be conducted under the provisions of the Local Electoral Act 2001 and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 and will be undertaken by electionz.com Ltd, under contract to Environment Southland.

Candidates

Nominations for candidates open from Friday 15 July 2022 to noon, and close on Friday 12 August 2022 at 12 noon.

The official candidates' list will be made available on our Candidates page.

Electoral roll

Those eligible to vote in the election are all resident electors and non-resident ratepayer electors whose names appear on the electoral roll when it closes on Friday 12 August 2022. The Preliminary Electoral Roll will be available for public inspection from Friday 15 July 2022 to Friday 12 August 2022 at the respective territorial authority offices and libraries within their districts.

Resident Roll: All parliamentary electors, including those on the Māori Electoral Roll, are automatically enrolled on the Resident Roll, at the address where they live. Any alterations to the Resident Roll (eg change of address details, including new postal addresses) should be made by:

completing the appropriate form at any post shop;
phoning 0800 ENROLNOW (0800 367 656)
accessing the Electoral Commission website on www.elections.org.nz

Ratepayer Roll: If a person is on the parliamentary roll in one area and pays rates on a property in another area, this person may be eligible to be enrolled on the non-resident ratepayer roll. A firm, company, corporation or society paying rates on a property may nominate one of its members or officers as a ratepayer elector (provided the nominated person resides outside the area). Ratepayer Roll enrolment forms are available at respective constituent territorial authority offices, websites or by phoning the electoral office on 0800 922 822.

If you are not enrolled to vote by Friday 12 August, you can cast a special vote.

To cast a special vote you will need to:

Submit your completed enrolment form to the appropriate Registrar of Electors (for the Parliamentary and Unpublished Electoral Rolls) or to Dale Ofsoski, Electoral Officer (for the Ratepayer Roll) by 7 October 2022 and
Apply to the Electoral Officer at the city or district council in the area in which you live (or the area in which you pay rates if you are applying as a ratepayer elector) for a special vote and ensure that your completed vote is in the hands of the city or district council for which you are voting by 12 noon on 8 October 2022.

Key Dates

30 June	Local Government elections webinar
15 July	Electoral roll open for inspection
15 July	Candidate nominations open
20 July (7.00pm)	Candidate Information Presentations (with SDC) at the Lumsden hall.
21 July (7.00pm)	Candidate Information Presentations (with GDC) at the Gore District Council offices.
12 August (12 noon)	Candidate nominations close and electoral roll closes
17 August	Public notice of candidates' names
16 - 21 September	Voting documents delivered
16 Sept - 8 October	Special voting period
20 Sept - 8 October	Scrutiny and early processing
8 October	Voting closes 12 noon
12 (pm) - 8 October	Official count
13 - 19 October	Declaration of results
October/November	Councillor swearing-in ceremony
mid-December	Return of electoral donations & expenses form

Electoral system

The first past the post (FPP) electoral system will be used for Environment Southland, Gore District Council, Invercargill City Council and Southland District Council. For the Southern District Health Board, the single transferable voting (STV) electoral system will be used.

Voting period

Voting documents will be sent to all eligible electors, by post, from Friday 16 September 2022.

The voting period is three weeks (Friday 16 September 2022 to noon Saturday 8 October 2022). Electors may post their completed voting documents back to the respective electoral officer using the orange pre-paid envelope sent with their voting document. Polling places for the issuing of special voting documents and for the receiving of completed voting documents will be available from Friday 16 September 2022 to noon Saturday 8 October 2022 at:

Gore District Council, 29 Civic Avenue, Gore;
Invercargill City Council, 101 Esk Street, Invercargill;
Southland District Council, 15 Forth Street, Invercargill.

To be counted, all completed voting documents must be in the hands of the respective electoral officer or an electoral official by noon Saturday 8 October 2022.

Progress results will be known early afternoon on Saturday 8 October 2022, and preliminary results will be known early on Sunday morning 9 October 2022. These will be accessible on this website.

Electoral officer

For further information regarding this election, please contact the electoral office:

Anthony Morton, Electoral Officer
Email: iro@electionz.com
Phone: 0800 666 048

Robyn Rout, Interim Deputy Electoral Officer
Southland District Council
C/o PO Box 903, Invercargill 9840
Email: robyn.rout@southlanddc.govt.nz
Phone: 0800 732 732