For the first time MidCentral District Health Board will list nominations for its DHB candidates in the October local body elections in random order on voting papers.
The board unanimously decided yesterday to change from the previous elections’ alphabetical listings of candidates’ surnames, to random listings of surnames.
It is each DHB’s responsibility to determine the order in which candidates’ names appear on ballot papers. Palmerston North City Council recently also opted to use the random order for city council candidates on its voting papers.
The board had three options to choose from: alphabetical listings, random order, or pseudo-random order. Random order is when candidates’ names are listed in random order, and the order varies on all voting documents.
Pseudo random order is determined by a draw, with candidates’ names placed on all voting documents in the same order they were drawn.
Eleven of the 20 boards used random order in the 2013 election, while eight (including MidCentral DHB) used alphabetical, and one pseudo-random.
DHB elections are conducted on an “at large” constituency basis using the Single Transferrable Voting (STV) system.
Nominations for all local body elections open on Friday 15 July, with nominations closing at noon on Friday 12 August.
Contact: Communications Unit (06) 350-8945