Pacific people urged to ‘make their vote count’ in local elections amid low turnout

Pacific people are being urged to vote in this year’s local body elections after record-low voter turnout in the past two elections.

In 2016 and 2019, some of Auckland’s electorates with the highest Pacific populations had some of the lowest voter turnouts. This included Māngere-Ōtāhuhu, Manurewa and Ōtara-Papatoetoe.

According to the 2018 Census, the majority of the Pacific population in New Zealand lives in Auckland – more than 240,000 people, 16% of the city’s total population.

That was 85,701 more people than what was recorded in 2013.

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Electoral Commission community engagement advisor Seumanutafa Alex Mccarthy said historically, voter turnout at general elections was always low and ballot voting in local elections was a huge barrier.

Mccarthy, who has links to Falealupo Falelima Salani and Satupa’itea in Samoa, is part of a team working with Māori, immigrants, youths and Pacific people in Auckland in the buildup to the local elections.

“For Pacific people, politics isn’t part of our daily vernacular. I remember growing up, it wasn’t a conversation we’d have over dinner,” Mccarthy said.

“Unless people knew someone running, there is very little interest in being a part of the elections.”

Mccarthy said it was an important time for Auckland, with the possibility of its first Pacific mayor.

“We want change but [are] not willing to be a part of that change. We need to make our votes count, so we can see changes up in the decision-making level.”

According to Auckland Council figures, voter participation was low in areas with a large Pasifika population, compared to other electorates.

The largest Pacific populations at the 2018 Census lived in the local board areas of Māngere-Ōtāhuhu (46,578), Ōtara-Papatoetoe (39,198) and Manurewa (34,707).

In the 2016 local elections, the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board area, which has a 60% Pacific population, had a voter turnout of 30.5%. It was 24.8% in 2019.

Manurewa had a voter turnout of 27.6% in 2019 and 28.6% in 2016.

Ōtara-Papatoetoe recorded the lowest voter turnout in Auckland in both elections – 27.3% in 2016 and 22.7% in 2019.

Pacific candidate Fale Andrew Lesā, who is running for the Manurewa Local Board, said Pacific people often assumed only homeowners and ratepayers should vote and local elections weren’t for them.

“But also, people just don’t care – it’s a shame because Auckland is moving into a new space,” Lesā said.

“There are important issues like climate change, housing intensity, the health structure on the agenda – things that directly affect us.

“As the Polynesian capital of New Zealand, we need a stake of how the future of this city will look like.”

Lesā questioned what was being done to help encourage people to vote, saying statistics from the past two elections showed groups of people were being left behind.

“It is unacceptable and it’s not good enough. There has to be more innovative ways to reach communities because what’s being done doesn’t seem to be working.”

Auckland Council manager governance service Rose Leonard said the council had to scale back on voter awareness because of a downsized budget – the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her team knew older people voted more than the younger population, postal ballots were becoming decreasingly unpopular, there was still a lack of understanding on why voting mattered and there was poor access to candidate information, she said.

Leonard said they had “tried their best” to improve, through initiatives like partnering with supermarkets to have ballot boxes in stores and pumping out a lot of information on their “self-served” website, Vote Auckland.

For those that didn’t have access to the Internet, libraries had voter information and in-person events were held across the city, she said.

“We know we can only do so much, we can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink,” Leonard said.

“Our website, Vote Auckland, is user-friendly and we’ve put in more information on it.”

Mccarthy said in the next two weeks, there would be one-stop shops for people to enrol and vote, at places like marae, night markets and community centres.

“It’s easy to throw stones from the outside, but we need to change our mindset and be part of the solution. We have a chance to be a part of that process through our votes.”