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Electoral officer Warwick Lampp owned the mistake and, despite taking the brunt of the backlash, councils also have a part to play.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEvery council sees and signs off their voting documents back to me as Election Officer, but I have final signoff after the council has checked it,\u201d Lampp said.<\/p>\n
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The missing profiles, accompanied with an apology, were sent to all M\u0101ori roll voters in the affected areas.<\/p>\n
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\nWhy didn\u2019t all voters get the missing information?
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Lampp said if all eligible voters in South Wairarapa received the missing candidate profiles, it would have cost ratepayers $26,000.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAll up, South\u2019s Wairarapa was just on $2500 … But it was only 460 people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sending the missing information to every person on Whanganui\u2019s M\u0101ori roll cost $12,000, avoiding an estimated $70,000 cost to ratepayers.<\/p>\n
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Lampp is a part of the private company Electionz.com, which \u201cshouldered\u201d the costs.<\/p>\n
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The same thing happened in \u014cp\u014dtiki, but unlike the other two councils,\u00a0\u014cp\u014dtiki District Council\u00a0<\/a>is not required to hold a poll on its M\u0101ori Wards.<\/p>\n
In 2023, \u014cp\u014dtiki District Council voted in favour of M\u0101ori wards for the 2025 and 2028 local body elections, so there was no referendum.<\/p>\n
There are three M\u0101ori ward candidates vying for two seats, yet none were included in the candidate profile handout.<\/p>\n
It cost $5697.06 plus GST to print and send out the missing profiles and apology to M\u0101ori roll voters.<\/p>\n
It would have cost $19,293 to send the additional pages to the areas voters on both the general and\u00a0M\u0101ori<\/a>\u00a0rolls.<\/p>\n
Like Lampp, Electoral Officer for \u014cp\u014dtiki Dale Ofskofske said: \u201cOur mistake, our cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
M\u0101ori ward candidates were also missing from the Manawat\u016b, Nelson, and Tasman district\u2019s profile booklet, as well as the only mayoral candidate for Manawat\u016b.<\/p>\n
But this was no misprint.<\/p>\n
It is not a requirement for the profiles of candidates who run unopposed to be included in voting packs as those candidates will automatically get the seat.<\/p>\n
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