Raglan Business Chamber and Raglan Naturally are hosting a “Meet the candidates” event for the local government elections on Sunday 18 September from 2pm at the Raglan Town Hall.
Your local council is responsible for many things that affect our daily life. From the moment you get up in the morning, turn on the tap to brush your teeth and flush the loo, to when you leave your home for the day and travel around the region – our lives are affected every day by the decisions made by our Mayor and Councillors. Decisions made by the very same people who were once just CANDIDATES… whose name was once in a booklet… with a photo…. asking for your vote.
Our local body elections are underway. Voting closes at midday on Saturday 8 October. In theory, it’s great that we have a way to influence the appointment of local representatives. In practice, voter turnout is low, and those who do vote are often doing so based on scant information and an underlying sense of confusion as to who and what they’re actually voting for.
In the 2019 local government elections only 34.4% of Waikato District Council voters actually exercised their right to vote. A lot of us seem happy to let other people do the voting for us and make the important decision of electing our next Mayor and Council members.
Surveys show there are four main reasons why people don’t vote:
Reason #1 I don’t know who the candidates are.
Reason #2 My vote doesn’t count.
Reason #3 I’m too busy.
Reason #4 Politicians don’t listen anyway!
Just being IN a candidate booklet with 150 words and a photo, doesn’t mean that a candidate is qualified to govern a $2plus billion dollar business. Keep in mind that there is no ‘competency’ test set for candidates before they put their names forward. Pretty much anyone with a pulse can stand for elected office.
There are many different and easy ways we CAN find out about our local candidates. Here’s some of the quick and easy ways to find out who the candidates are.
– Call them
– Ask to meet them
– Go to a candidate meeting
– Go online
– Follow them on social media
– Email them
– Spend a bit of time getting to know and selecting the right candidates and they SHOULD listen.
Elections come around just once every 3 years, and the people we choose are there for the following 3 years, and probably more. Candidates who were then elected and now make decisions that affect your lives every day.
So please vote. When it’s a decision that affects our everyday lives – it’s a decision that MATTERS.
