News | 5 October 2022
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Pōneke elections 2022 – it’s the final countdown

It’s the final countdown for the 2022 Wellington City Council elections, but there’s still time to get last minute votes in – with the real number crunching starting from the strike of midday on Saturday 8 October.

Wellington City from Tinakori Hill on a sunny day

While postal voting deadlines have ended, there are still over 50 ballot boxes where you can drop-off your voting papers including at every Wellington supermarket and library in the city.

There are provisions for special voting at the main voting hub at Te Pokapū Hapori Community Centre at 105 Manners St, as well as at four libraries – Johnsonville Library at Waitohi Hub, Karori Library, Newtown Library, and Ruth Gotlieb Library (Kilbirnie).

The voting hub is open 8.30am to 7.30pm all this week, and the libraries are open during normal opening hours. Voting can still be done at both the hub and the four libraries from opening to midday on Saturday 8 October when voting closes.

The estimated time for progress results to be released by the Electoral Officer is from 3-4pm.

These results will be posted on the Council’s website when they become available at wellington.govt.nz/elections, and shared through other communications channels shortly afterwards.

The preliminary results are expected to be received from electionz.com about 11pm and will be put in the results section on wellington.govt.nz/elections when they are available.

Special votes will be counted over the week following, with final results expected from 13-19 October.

Once final results are notified, elected members take office, with the Mayoral and Councillor inauguration and swearing-in ceremony taking place on Wednesday 26 October.

Wellington City Deputy Electoral Officer Jennifer Parker says it’s been a very busy campaign, and she’s delighted with the community’s enthusiastic use of our orange ballot boxes.

“Participating in elections is a crucial function of our local democracy. We’ve worked hard to ensure everyone could take part by making the process more accessible, engaging and user-friendly, and as such, allowing Wellingtonians to choose a good representative of them and their local community.

“We’ve got a small army of staff who’ve been putting in the hard mahi on this campaign – from Creative Design, to Policy, to Communications, to IT, to Democracy Services, the Contact and Service Centres, Street Activities, Libraries, Security… the list goes on – and Saturday will see another large group mobilise to make sure every vote counts.”