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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 2h

Well, this is a bit dumb ... the consequence is that even though he hasn't officially been declared elected yet, once he is then he'll have to formally resign the seat and a by-election be held.

Object lesson in making sure you know what you're getting into when standing for office.

Councillor at centre of online storm quits days after being elected

Newly-elected Central Otago councillor Dave McKenzie has quit amid online accusations, saying the pressure is too much for his family. His...

www.odt.co.nz

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4h

Historical reference here ...

Conservative US commentator Candace Owens has New Zealand ban lifted

Owens will be allowed in after the overturning of Immigration New Zealand's ban on her entering the country.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4h

Ooof ... Australian Court just upheld Australian Govt decision to refuse Candice Owens Farmer (she drops the last name in her promo stuff) a visa to do a paid speaking tour. I assume that'll kill off her trip here, too (on practical grounds, even though Chris Penk gave her permission to come).

In a lengthy ruling, the high court upheld Burke’s findings. The court said:

In the absence of evidence, or agreed facts, it is not obvious that the opportunity to hear Ms Farmer speak in Australia (the so-called “lightning bolt” effect) could add anything to political communication in Australia.

Owens will have to pay the costs of the appeal.

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 6h

Oh well that's just stupid and makes the whole thing meaningless.

Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 8h

They've fucked up the calculations. Don't have time to go into the MMP calculator, but back of the envelope says National should have around 38 seats, so a 63-59 split (with a 2 seat overhang).

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 8h

"Young people should just go out and get a job distributing Facebook Posts and Instagram Reels ... "

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

Awww, man - but inspiring genius like this is a great legacy to leave behind.

Atlanta - Earn meets D'Angelo

YouTube video by John Henry Eden

www.youtube.com

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

So - to summarise - making our local elections as like our national elections is A Good Idea (until we can sort out the security issues with internet voting ... a topic in itself). But like all Good Ideas, it comes with its own set of potential problems to work through. Thank you for your attention.

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

And, finally - we don't *know* whether moving to in-person voting will even work to boost turnout. Sure, we have to do something (the demise of our postal system means that the current process can't work much beyond 2028). But, and whisper it quietly, what if voters really just don't care?

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

So, maybe local authorities will have to move away from "at large" elections to local wards to make voter choice manageable ... which will increase the number of different ballot papers required even further.

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

Assuming that this voting method is STV (because it is better), we then have the potential problem of lengthy ballot papers requiring time to complete (54 candidates to rank for the Dunedin City Council this election!) What will happen when people have to do this at a polling place?

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

Next issue is that different local bodies use different voting methods, which makes it hard to run nationwide voting information campaigns (like we do with MMP at national elections). So ... maybe we need to bite the bullet and force one voting method on all local authorities?

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

Furthermore, don't underestimate how complex it will be to recruit and train the 1000s of people needed to staff multiple ballot places over a 13(?) day period - noting that local elections will be even more granular than national ones (100s of different ballot papers compared to "just" 72 for MMP).

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

So, I'm on board. But, there's points to note about the proposal. First of all is cost ... moving from postal ballots that voters have to get back to the council to in-person balloting at polling places will be expensive. This was our recommended cost-sharing, but we couldn't put a $$$ figure on it.

Funding for the Electoral Commission’s new role should be covered in
part by central government and in part by imposing a levy on councils.
This levy should be set by Cabinet via secondary legislation and require
consultation with local government.

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

Let me note at the start that Hayden's proposal (do local elections like we do national ones, and bring in the Electoral Commission to run them) reflects what the Local Govt NZ Working Group has proposed. And also note that I was a member of this group.

d1pepq1a2249p5.cloudfront.net

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 9h

This Hayden Donnell guy seems pretty smart - but note we don't really have "election day" at the national level anymore. We have "the voting period" (soon to be set in law at 13 days in length). What would doing the same mean for local elections? (🧵)

Wild idea: just run local elections like national elections

We need to hold a proper election day, and most importantly, call in the orange guy.

thespinoff.co.nz

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 1d

Re-upping this thread in light of @ben.gracewood.nz uncovering that there is no record of David Seymour ever being told (as he had claimed) that alcohol warning labels hamper craft brewers ... a non-issue that would require us to break from our international agreements to fix ...

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 1d

Well, it's a good thing that TPM wasn't looking for "heads on platters" when it released all that information related to the Kapa-Kingi whanau into the public domain ... .

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 1d

Update:

MP allegedly warned of $133k overspend, action urged so staff paid - Te Pāti Māori email to members

The email was sent to party members shortly before 10pm last night.

www.nzherald.co.nz

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 2d

"You're gonna need a bigger stadium ... ."

Migration slump deepens as record numbers of Kiwis head overseas

Annual net migration has fallen again as fewer migrants arrived in the year to August.

www.nzherald.co.nz

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 2d

Just to note that this legally-bound-to-fail opposition cost the ratepayers at least $100,000 ... . I wonder if the "hate speech" was along the lines of "look, you egg, stop being such an egg!"

Latest mayor to be ousted claims he’s a victim of ‘hate speech’

Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo, who looks to have been tipped out on the latest vote count, says he's suffered "quite a strong hate campaign" driving away his voters. He hasn't been targeted because of his race, or gender, or sexuality – he claims it's because he opposed fluoride in the town water supply.

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henry cooke @henrycooke.bsky.social · 2d

I’ve made a professional Instagram for videos on politics and whatnot. www.instagram.com/reel/DPstenh...

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4d

Shut up, you antichrist ...

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks ... so much of local politics is local!!!

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4d

I guess I have "what I see in the national media" bias (hence don't really know what's going on), but this seems like a surprise?

Tory Whanau misses out on Māori Ward seat
The outgoing Wellington mayor, Tory Whanau, has missed out on making it back into the council in the Te Whanganui a Tara seat.

The progress results on Saturday showed the Labour candidate, Matthew Reweti, had defeated her. He was declared elected with 1042 votes to her 732.

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4d

Shades of Reform winning control of local councils in the UK and then realising "fuck me - governing is hard!"

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4d

Central issues were a reasonable council having to create a new water entity (as required by central govt's "Local Water Done Well" policy) + costs of infrastructure development driving up rates. Let's see how the nutty right manages to deal with these issues over the next 3 years ... .

Paul_BarlowNZ @paulbarlownz.bsky.social · 4d

Well fuck - Selwyn has elected a majority of Council with links to VFF, Act, and Trump fans. Maybe put that on the no fly list for the next three years

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4d

Also ... remember when Whanganui wouldn't even put an "h" in its name because Maoris were bloody well asking for too much?

(Additional update: Michael Laws lives in Cromwell these days and is stinking up the Otago Regional Council.)

Whanganui votes to retain Māori wards
Whanganui has voted to retain its Māori wards in a tight contest.

Progress votes show 6663 people voted to retain a Māori ward, while 6213 voted to have it removed.

More than 1000 ballots left the Māori ward option blank.

Juile Herewini on 906 votes and Geoff Hipango on 738 votes have been returned as Māori ward councillors.

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Andrew Geddis @acgeddis.bsky.social · 4d

The local election results (so far) seem pretty much an apathetic recycling of the status-quo ... but note this as a potential hint at what 2028 may deliver. A 3 term mayor + current LGNZ head hammered because of the cost of region's new water entity and rates rises to cover infrastructure needs.

Landslide in Selwyn
The current Local Government New Zealand president is facing a landslide loss in his district.

Selwyn District incumbent Sam Broughton is more than 11,000 votes behind his challenger, Lydia Gliddon.

The progress results show she has received 15,497 votes so far while he has 4156 votes.

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Paul_BarlowNZ @paulbarlownz.bsky.social · 4d

Well fuck - Selwyn has elected a majority of Council with links to VFF, Act, and Trump fans. Maybe put that on the no fly list for the next three years

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