Keep an eye out for voting packs in Ōpōtiki

Voting in the 2025 local elections is officially underway (from 9 September 2025) and Ōpōtiki District Council’s Deputy Electoral Officer, Cindy Butt, reminded voters to keep an eye on their letterbox over the coming weeks.

“The first voting packs are showing up in letterboxes and they will keep arriving over the next couple of weeks. Don’t worry if you haven’t got yours yet, they won’t all the delivered at once and it might be on its way.

“But if you haven’t got it by 23 September, then you may need to do a special vote. There are a few more steps involved in that process and you can find out more about it on the council website,” Ms Butt said.

Ms Butt said that it was exciting to see so many candidates standing across the General and Māori wards for all the council positions. She encouraged people to find out more, get engaged and involved in the process of choosing the next Ōpōtiki council and Coast Community Board.

“Now that the voting papers are arriving, the next two steps are really important. First, people can get to know their candidates – there are candidate profile booklets in your voting packs, and you can check out details and watch the candidate videos for many candidates on the council website from Thursday afternoon. There are a couple of Meet the Candidate events for Mayoral candidates and regional council candidates, although unfortunately none focussed on the councillor seats for Ōpōtiki.

“And then of course we want to see our community put that into action and vote! Nationally voter turnout for council elections is very low but Ōpōtiki often bucks that trend. It is clear that our local community cares and understands the importance of local decision making and we want to see that trend continue.

“Many people will just pop their completed voting papers back in the pre-paid envelope and put it in the nearest post box, and you need to do that before 7 October so it arrives on time.

“After that, you will need to drop it into one of our secure voting boxes in the main council office, or Ōpōtiki isite. We will also have a couple of mobile boxes out and about, particularly up to our Coast communities and we’ll have someone there to help with enrolments and special votes. Please bring formal ID if you are coming to do a special vote,” Ms Butt said.

Key dates:

• Voting packs delivered: 9-22 September
• Voting open 9 September to Election Day
• Election Day: Saturday, 11 October (voting closes at 12 noon)