Hutt set to stick with one choice in voting

Lower Hutt is set to reject STV, joining growing opposition around the region to the multi-choice electoral system.

Single transferable vote – in which voters rank candidates instead of voting for just one – is used in Wellington City's local body elections and nationally for district health boards.

Hutt City Council's governance committee is recommending the council stick with first-past-the-post, under which voters get one choice.

Lower Hutt Mayor and committee chair David Ogden said members were sceptical of the merits of STV.

"It sounds good in theory, and I've been elected twice to the DHB [under it], but it's very confusing. I think it's part of the reason for the downturn in voting."

With district health boards, voters were faced with long lists of people they were unlikely to have heard of, he said.

"I think people just look at it and put it up on the fridge ... We should make it more attractive for people to vote."

Mr Ogden won the Lower Hutt mayoralty last year by a razor-thin margin, and was unsure how an STV system might have affected the outcome.

Apart from being "completely run over" in Wainuiomata – home to his biggest competitors – he had performed well in most areas of the city.

Wellington City Council will hold a public poll to decide which system to use in the 2010 and 2013 elections. Poll voting papers are to be sent to all city residents on the electoral roll on September 5, with results announced on September 27.