Remember to vote
2007-10-03 13:44:00.0
AUTHOR: Judy Turner
With the House in recess it has been a good time to focus on things outside of Wellington, and in particular I have been taking an active interest in Local Body Elections. By now you will have received your voting papers in the mail and realise that you have until Sat 13th October to get them in for counting.
I have taken time to meet with some of the candidates and to hear first hand the priorities they see for my hospital, my town and my region. For me there are several things I look for when deciding who to vote for.
Firstly I want to determine what skills and knowledge they have to offer and to see where they have demonstrated previous commitment to community organisations or causes. I also want to identify if they are campaigning on a single-issue or if they hold viable opinions on a broad range of relevant topics.
For me it is also important, that an elected representative is approachable and that they value the input of electors. I have no time for the local cowboy who wants to turn local politics into a side-show where they are the star performer, and I note that historically voters deal decisively to the hopeful who comes across as brash and arrogant.
However I am drawn to the out-spoken and the gutsy. As a voter I want men and women holding office who do their homework, and look beyond the information given to them by their officials to those who work at the coal-face of an issue and then aren’t afraid to be decisive.
Most importantly, please vote, and remember when using the STV ranking system to be as diligent in considering where you rank people as you are in determining who to include. It does affect the outcome.