Auckland Council will not advocate lowering the voting age for local elections after councillors voted down a resolution to support the change.
The decision makes Auckland an exception to several councils in Wellington and Christchurch who have previously shown support for lowering the voting age.
It comes ahead of a bill expected in Parliament that will respond to last year's Supreme Court judgment that found preventing 16 and 17-year-olds from voting was "unjustified age discrimination".
Meanwhile, councillors have supported raising nomination fees for mayoral candidates as to deter "non-serious" candidates from unintentionally voiding an election.
The recommendations came as part of the council’s submission to Parliament’s inquiry into last year’s local elections - which saw poor turnout nationwide.
Speaking at a council meeting last week, Waitākere councillor Shane Henderson said the council's climate response policies were a reason to support lowering the voting age.
"We talk about climate change. We talk about infrastructure that's going to be there long after we all go away. The 16-year-olds have the most skin in the game of anyone."
Meanwhile, another councillor called for more civics education in schools.
The vote to adopt a position on the voting age was lost six to nine.
Mayor Wayne Brown and deputy mayor Desley Simpson were unable to be present for the vote due to council business.
In October, a Government-appointed working group recommended the voting age be lowered in order to boost participation from young people in local government.
Voting in this year's election closes at midday on Saturday – with concerns the number of people casting their ballot will be low. (Source: Breakfast)
The council's submission gave a dozen recommendations - many focused on increasing poor voter engagement among younger Aucklanders.
Speaking on the topic, Howick councillor Maurice Williamson said voter turnout wasn’t an issue to be worried about.
"I don't think anybody should be too worried about low voter turnout. That's a choice."
Williamson suggested that people would "get out to vote a lot more" if people didn't like what the council was doing.
Too many 'non-serious' mayoral hopefuls
A legal quirk means that a mayoral election would be declared void if any nominated candidate is found to be ineligible, according to the council, which is proposing to increase the nomination fee from $200 to $500.
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“The council notes that this issue has been raised previously but not progressed as it is seen to be anti-democratic," the submission read. "This needs to be balanced against the inconvenience to electors of rerunning the mayoral election."
Last year, twenty-two candidates, including adult entertainer Lisa Lewis, ran for the top job in Auckland. Two-time candidate John Palino also put his name forward to be the city's leader. Palino declared his candidacy from his home in Orlando, Florida.
The council’s elections advisor, Warwick McNaughton, told councillors at the meeting that increasing the fee was “out of a sense of anxiousness”.
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“Under the legislation, if that happens prior to election day, then the whole election for mayor has to be run again. So this is a risk issue.”
The council's submission read: "Increasing the deposit to stand for mayor could help to mitigate the risk by deterring non-serious candidates."
Eyes turn to turnout… again
Much of the council’s submission to MPs was focused on low turnout in last year’s election that saw businessman Wayne Brown take the mayoral chains.
Last year's turnout in Auckland ticked up slightly by 0.2% but was still lower than turnout nationally - with wide variation between different parts of the city.
1News' Business Correspondent discusses stagnating local election turnout. (Source: Q and A)
“Turnout appears to be lower in lower socio-economic areas," the council said in its submission. "In these areas, it is possible that local elections are not a priority compared to other demands such as work commitments."
A post-election survey commissioned by Auckland Council found the top reasons for not voting were a lack of knowledge about candidates and their policies or an inability to work out who to vote for.
Meanwhile, the council is no longer pushing for an option to vote online - suggesting that security concerns raised by the GCSB would make the option unviable.
"The evidence is [online voting] does not significantly increase turnout," the council added.
By convention, after every local election, MPs on Parliament's Justice Select Committee carry out an inquiry to make suggestions to improve how future votes are run.
MPs expected to debate lower voting age this year
MPs will get the chance to decide whether to lower the voting age to 16. (Source: 1News)
Lowering the local election voting age only requires the support of half of Parliament, and the Government confirmed last year that it would be a conscience vote for Labour MPs.
Parliament will decide whether to lower the voting age to 16 following a Supreme Court decision yesterday. (Source: 1News)
"Parliament now has six months to debate and then return a decision. In that time, we'll take some advice on the differences, for instance, in how local versus central government elections are treated," former PM Jacinda Ardern said in November.
A change to the voting age for general elections would require the support of 75% of MPs - a suggestion that has already been shot down by National and ACT.
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