by Cimino | 15 Sep 2016 | Berger for the board, Concurrent elections, Election turnout, Local board, Youth voting
Polling gets blamed for a lot of things. For starters, for influencing folk into voting for the winning side. Or, conversely, for influencing folk into voting for the underdog. Whereas, in an ideal world, voters would express their honestly held preference, regardless...
by Cimino | 10 Sep 2016 | Election turnout, Local board, Youth voting
After three decades of Kids Voting, there is ample evidence to back it up. And for half that time, after it was imported from the United States by the then Auckland City Council, kids in Aotearoa have been at it. This year, a record 11 730 students in the Auckland...
by Cimino | 29 Aug 2016 | Berger for the board, Local board, STV, Youth voting
Voters, reasonably, seek to get their money’s worth. But thanks to obdurate royal commissionersin fairness, also to other governments and Auckland councils before and since, Auckland Council remains stuck in the bad old days of first-past-the-post, and voters are...
by Cimino | 29 Jul 2016 | Berger for the board, Election turnout, Local board, Youth voting
In 2013, Len Brown was elected by a mere 16.5% of Aucklanders registered to vote. This was the result of an abysmal 35% turnout, and marginal popularity combined with the inevitable consequences of first-past-the-post. Dazed and disillusioned with the new governance...
by Mahurangi Action | 14 Jun 2016 | Local, Local board
As lodged 1.00 pm Friday 24 June 2016 Alternative application under Schedule 3 of the Local Government Act 2002 Alternative application applicant: Mahurangi Action Incorporated Representative of applicant: Cimino Cole, secretary 590 Mahurangi West Road RD...
by Cimino | 10 Jun 2015 | Concurrent elections, Election turnout, Online, Youth voting
It is possible to put a price on better democracy. At least to the extent that combining local and general elections would nearly halve the cost of holding them, and massively improve local-body turnout to boot. Extensive experience elsewhere suggests that if New...
