Big tick energy
And the cheese roll cake
We’ve all seen the local body election signs.
Vote for me!
Vote (insert name here) #1
And words (and capitals) such as . . . HONESTY! INTEGRITY! SENSIBLE! COMMUNITY!
But what has amazed me is seeing one sitting Dunedin councillor (and mayoral aspirant) urging voters to give them a ‘tick’.
NO. NO. NO.
Dunedin, like some other centres, uses STV in voting for the mayor or for the city council.
That means you rank your preference by using numbers.
If you want to learn more about STV here is an explainer article from my colleague and uber voting nerd, Sinead Gill.
Confusingly a tick - rather than a ranking system - is what you use for the Otago Regional Council.
But if you use a ‘tick’, similar to what the sitting councillor is urging people to do (below), your vote will be rendered invalid.
Possibly an honest mistake, but not a great look.
Houlahan was pretty good about it though when it was pointed out.
This was her reply when I pointed out that some of her advertising features a tick (bad!), while others feature a number (good!).
I had a great chat with Dunedin City Council deputy electoral officer Clare Sullivan, who just happened to be in Middlemarch for special voting.
While she could not talk about specifics, she confirmed that putting a tick in a box on an STV voting paper could render that vote invalid.
On each part of the voting paper there were specific instructions, which told voters to rank their candidates.
Sullivan said if a voter ticked only one person for the mayoralty, then their intention was clear and their vote would be valid - and counted accordingly.
‘‘But if they have voted for more than one person . . . it is too hard to determine which person is the preference.’’
Interestingly a vote would still be valid if a person did the opposite for the Otago Regional Council, which uses a First Past the Post system. If a person ranked the required number of candidates - rather than ticked - their vote would be counted.
‘‘We would know who you were voting for,’’ she said.
In 2019 the voter return was 45.6%, being 42,618 voting papers, excluding special votes.
As an aside, in the 2019 mayoral race, there were 107 informal votes and 504 blank votes.
For council this leapt to 415 informal votes and 522 blank votes.
I get people making mistakes, given the likes of the (photo) above. It can be confusing. But who the hell is returning their votes blank??!!
Sullivan confirmed that ‘informal’ votes were ones incorrectly filled out. It was difficult to comment on why some people returned blank votes but some of them included people who voted for one council, but not the other.
‘‘Information is unclear as to whether there is less informal, or blank votes under STV.’’
But when votes are being processed ‘‘we do look very carefully to understand the voter’s intention’’.
Sullivan said there had been a few complaints about election signage, but that was largely to do with placement.
A new council variation which tightened-up some of the rules where candidates could put their signs, as well as the size of those signs, had anecdotally led to a reduction in complaints.
Electoral officers did not deal with complaints over candidate signage being defaced, she said.
Signs should be authorised, and if a complaint was received a candidate would be advised ‘‘and change their sign accordingly’’.
Interestingly, the Dunedin City Council publishes its daily returns at 8pm each day.
To date, they are down compared to 2019 - you can read the full figures here.
Some people have been asking me about polls, but the only ones locally have been on Facebook. I’m reticent about those because they are often clearly gamed by some parties.
It is great to see the Otago Regional Council continuing to fund the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter Service, donating $350,000 annually.
The annual report for the services shows the service transported 1611 emergency patient retrievals (involving 2852 helicopter hours) in the year to June 30, 2022.
That compares to the previous year of 1,703 emergency patient missions and 2,949 hours.
The report notes the trust behind the service also received a bequest of more than $115,000. Amazing!
With school holidays coming-up, I recommend (if you have kids) to take them to the gun emplacements at Harington Point, and check out the upgrading work at Te Rauone Beach.
Probably one of the best places my boys have ever played basketball.
And I love reporting on food crimes, the cheese roll burger anyone?
But by all accounts this is the real deal.
What you are drooling at is a cheese roll pie.
My source, lets call her ‘Shaz’ tipped me off about her colleague and ‘‘creative genius’’ Erin Sutherland.
A story featuring Minister Chris Hipkins tucking into a sausage roll cake inspired talk around their office about classic fare that would be benefit from a circular shape.
While other ideas were mentioned; fairy bread sandwiches, lamington, it was decided that ‘‘nothing would beat a delicious cheese roll cake’’.
Sutherland, a graphic designer and obviously a genius, calculated how to turn square pieces of white bread into a ‘‘circular layered cake oozing with cheesy goodness’’, Shaz told me.
‘‘There were gasps of delight at the shared morning tea table, the cheese roll cake cut perfectly into wedges, with a crunchy top and crusts off goodness took the southern icon to the next level.’’
Well played, Erin Sutherland, well played.
And Tweet of the Week goes to this great photo. Click on it to see OBHS looming large over the city.
And lastly, here is a stone cold pop classic from Bill Direen.
Brilliant.
Have a great week. And if you have any tips, or cheese roll inspired goodness, hit me up at hamish.mcneilly@stuff.co.nz
I will be celebrating our election result over a Jimmy's Pie. My keto mate can just watch me 🤤 🥧✔️