Zan Rai Gyaw

This is my 3rd time standing and 2nd time calling for residents-only voting in Wellington. One of the essential components of achieving an effective council is the residents’ ability to vote in(out) the candidates they think will bring effectiveness to the city. This component has been somewhat taken away from the residents by the Wellington’s short-term residents (around 40,000) of public sector staff, tertiary students and other short-term residents. If and when this population votes, it will create skewed election results which will not be the reflection of the long-time residents. For hard evidence, we need to look at how stable the Wellington’s electoral roll has been. Only Electoral Commission can reproduce this evidence but electoral rolls’ stability has never been a general consideration, and thus, not available. There is already a provision for voters who are out of their home electorate or overseas to cast special votes.