How to make your vote count in the local body elections

We’ve told you what the candidates think about transport issues in the Wellington region. Now Sustwelltrans member Paula Warren has prepared this guide to using your vote to best effect. It tells you how to increase the election chances of the candidates you support – and how to lessen the chances of those you oppose.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to vote!

Tactical Voting

Warning: With FPP if you tick more boxes than you are allowed to, all your votes will be disallowed.  You can tick fewer than you are allowed to.

Preliminary step for STV and FPP:

Identify

• who you really want to have elected (you don’t at this stage have to choose if there are more people you like than places available – list all the ones who you would be very happy to see elected), and
• anyone who you are actively voting against (who has a reasonable chance of getting in – ignore the nutters and fringe candidates)

For STV if you are not actively voting against someone:

• Add to your list any candidates who you would be happy to have elected.
• Rank all the people on your list in order.
• Give them a number in order of rank (one for the best).  So obviously the people who first went on your list will be at the top.
• Consider whether there is a “protest” candidate who you don’t want to have elected, but whose cause you support. Give them the next number.
• Do not give a number to anyone else.

For STV if you are actively voting against someone:

• Add to your list any candidates who you would be happy to have elected.
• Now look at your list and see whether those on it are the people with the best chance of defeating the candidate you are voting against. If not, and there is someone with a good chance who you don’t also dislike, add them to the list.
• Put your list in order.  Place those with a strong chance of defeating the candidate you are voting against high on the list, along with those you most love.  Try to have someone with a good chance of winning in the first few numbers.  The higher they are on the list, the more likely they are to benefit from your vote.
• Give them a number in order of rank (one for the best).
• Consider whether there is a “protest” candidate who you don’t want to have elected, but whose cause you support. Given them the next number.
• Do not give a number to anyone else.

For FPP if you are not actively voting against someone:

• If your preference list is less than the number of ticks you are allowed, tick those you’ve chosen and then decide whether you want to give a tick to anyone else to fill up your quota of ticks.  If there are other people who you would be happy to have as councillors/board members, give them a tick. You are helping to vote against candidates you don’t like or who you don’t know anything about but who might be worse. But if you don’t know much about the other candidates, don’t feel obliged to use all your ticks. Stick to those you know about.
• If your preference list is equal to the number of ticks you have, tick them.
• If your preference list is more than the number of ticks, choose who will get the ticks.

unless

• There is someone who you really really want to have elected, and they are likely to only just scrape in, and there is no-one else you really want to support. In that case give them a tick and don’t use any of your other votes.  If you give ticks to other candidates you may be reducing your candidate’s chance of getting in.  (Note that this only applies for FPP, not for STV.)

For FPP if you are actively voting against someone:

• Look at your preference list, and see whether there is someone on the list who has a very good chance of defeating the candidate you are voting against. Check that there isn’t someone else with a better chance who you could live with. If you have a good opposition candidate and there isn’t someone radically better, proceed as above.
• If none of your preferred people have a very good chance of winning, and there is someone who is ok who has a far better chance, add that person to the preference list.  Give them a tick, and give any remaining ticks to the preferred candidates with the best chance of getting in.
• Make sure you use all your ticks – every vote you cast may reduce the chances that the candidate you are voting against will get in.

What makes a good councillor

Issues

• Are they on the side of the good and holy (i.e. do they agree with you on key issues)?
• If they were on a council before, or had some other relevant role, did they find ways to present the issues usefully, and relate them to the decisions being made? Or do they have a very simplistic approach to the issues?
• Did they build support for the issues or polarise people?
• Did they give lip service to the issues but actually support contrary decisions?

Hard working

• Will they put the time and effort into the job?  Look at whether they are promising to be a full time councillor, or expecting to also run a business or look after a family on their own.
• If they’ve been on the council before, look at their meeting attendance record.
• Did they bother to answer questionnaires and turn up to candidates meeting?

Effective

• Have they been a councillor before? Were they considered effective in that role by their peers and informed commentators?
• If they haven’t, do they have a background that means they will be able to analyse papers and express their views clearly and succinctly?
• Are they going to be totally lost in the bureaucratic system, meeting procedures, etc?  Can they be tactical and use the system effectively?
• Can they work with other people, or are they really just loner protesters?  Protesters should stay on the outside harassing the council rather than joining them.
• If they are a mayoral candidate, can they pull together a disparate council, or will they be divisive?
• If they are a councillor, are they likely to end up chairing a sub-committee?

Support

• Councillors don’t have electorate secretaries, research offices or any other support. Does the candidate have some sort of support base (friends and supporters, political party, etc)?