A dismal voter return and a worsening database has newly elected Waipā Networks Trust members so worried they have called for an investigation into how to improve things for the next election in three years.
Waipā Networks CEO Sean Horgan with Cambridge Community House general manager Gabby Byrne seal their partnership with a handshake.
When polling closed on October 1, the voter return was 14.80 per cent – 4312 votes. A total of 1532 voting papers were returned as “gone, no forwarding address.”
Steph O’Sullivan
The cost to run the election was $88,149.48 – or about $20 per vote.
Waipā District Council had 230 of those votes which mayor Susan O’Regan and chief executive Steph O’Sullivan used on behalf of ratepayers.
The News raised the database issue with Waipā Networks Ltd after discovering some individual voting papers were sent to the wrong addresses.
A total of 40,000 customers in Waipā, Waikato and Kāwhia were eligible to vote for six members of the trust. The coverage area runs from Tamahere in the north, to Pukeatua and Kiokio in the south across towards the Kāwhia coast and includes the main settlements of Pirongia, Ōhaupō, Te Awamutu, Kihikihi, Kāwhia and Cambridge.
Jarrod Godfrey
New trustees elected were Jarrod Godfrey and Philip Coles who joined incumbents Sarah Matthews, Marcus Gower, Dave McLean and Ray Milner on the trust last month,
The trust owns 7.2 million shares worth more than $194 million in Waipā Networks.
Trust manager Kayla Heeringa said address information was sourced from electricity retailers who hold the customer data and provide the compiled database to its election provider Electionnz.com
Philip Coles
“Unfortunately, we have minimal control over the data provided from the retailer and also what information customers provide to their retailers.
“Widespread use of email and direct debit payments has meant the database has worsened over time, which is why the trust implemented the additional control of sending emails – on top of the required postal voting method outlined in our Trust Deed,” said Heeringa.
When trustees debriefed after the election, they asked about the database challenges.
Voter returns have been consistently poor – 16.11 per cent in 2018 and 15.86 per cent in 2021.
